Harry Potter and the Bane of Gryffindor
by ailhsa23
Summary: New Chapter's up!Post OOTP. Harry copes with Sirius' death and goes through strenuous training and meets someone that may become more than a friend, but does he know who he's dealing with, especially with her relationship with a certain death eater?
1. New Beginnings

**_Chapter 1: - New Beginnings_**  
_  
It's down to this  
I've got to make this life make sense  
Can anyone tell what I've done?  
I miss the life  
I miss the colours of the world  
Can anyone tell where I am  
'Cuz now again I've found myself  
So far down  
Away from the sun that shines into the darkest place  
I'm so far down  
Away from the sun again  
Away from the sun again_

3 Doors Down - Away From The Sun_  
_

Harry Potter lay on his bed, staring at the wall, just as he was doing for the last few weeks. He hadn't  
showered or eaten in days, and his room was a mess! Owl droppings all over the floor Hedwig's cage, his  
school books and robes strewn untidyly from his trunk onto the dirt-ridden floor.

There were also many unopened letters from his friends and many other memebers of the Order. To be  
frank, Harry couldn't be bothered by them, he didn't need nay pity, he just wanted to be left alone.  
The Dursleys' on the other hand, glowed in Harry's absence, they carried on as though Harry never existed  
even though this was their ususal behaviour, it just seemed to get worse, in thise sense. The only one who seemed  
to still care was Aunt Petunia, she left him plates of food and cups of tea or juice, just to show that some part of  
her still cared. Harry was beginning to think that she knew about Sirius, but a part of him thought that she was still  
doing it because she had to. It was nearly midnight now, as the 15 year old Gryffindor checked his calendar.

"Oh joy, " he said sarcastically, "tomorrow's my birthday." 

It seemed that he had just rested his head onto the pillow when he was rudely awakened by an annoying  
pounding on the door. Opening his eyes, he turned to the clock on his bedside table.  
"3:16 am" it read.

"Why now!" Harry grumbled as he rolled his eyes and got groggily out of bed.

On the other side of the door, was his very flustered uncle. Ever since that little chat at the train station with  
Moody, the Dursleys stayed clear of Harry.  
Vernon Dursley, was a very big man with a tree trunk as a neck and then, there was also the very frequent   
pulsating purple vein that appeared from his neck to his temple; this vein always seems to appear whenever he sees  
Harry.

"What is it that you want?'' asked Harry coldly.

Flushing, Uncle Vernon answered, " I will not accept your rudeness in my house!"

"Is that all?" asked Harry almost seriously, but sercretly, it tickled him.

"You have a visitor," he spat, " I will not have anyone with your ABNORMALNESS in my house!"

Laughing to himself, he said, "It's abnornality."

With his uncle's face turning from red to violet, Harry turned to go down the stairs with a rather large grin  
on his face. It's been a long time since he had had a good laugh.

In the living room, sat a nervous 17 year old girl, who was wondering if Professor Dumbledore had done the  
right thing by letting her come back into a world that had forsaken her years ago. At the sound of feet, she  
rose from the couch to see a quite handsome young man in a vest and sweat pants. Apparently, Harry Potter  
wasn't as skinny as people said he was, he had well - defined muscles and abs and a very nice...

"May I help you?" said the rather annoyed voice of Harry, who had brought her out of her thoughts.

"Hi, umm, my name is Alex Walker, Prof. Dumbledore sent me to pick you up, as I'm sure your uncle told  
you, but I'm afraid we have to hurry though." she said.

"Yes, he did," replied Harry, while quietly taking in the looks of this girl.

She was tall, about 5'8 as far as he could see, she was quite pretty and dressed in black, not robes, but  
muggle clothing, which showed her curves too. She had long, sleek, black hair, dark brown eyes and a pretty  
smile.

"But why didn't anyone tell me this before?" he asked.

"Because you didn't reply to any of your letters." she said simply.

"Oh." mumbled Harry. He felt rather guilty because he suddenly remember the huge pile of unopened letters  
on his desk.

"Well, I guess I have to pack then." he said then turning and running up the stairs.

While waiting for Harry to pack, Alex settled herself down on the couch and pondered the effectiveness of  
Professor Dumbledore's actions.

_**FLASHBACK**  
East London_

Friday, 13th October 1994.

The Walker Family were a group of lowly pure-bloods with more power than one could even imagine,  
but unfortunately, they were considered as traitors in the eyes of the Ministry and most of the wizarding  
communities naturally agreed with them too. Traitors because they were said to have assisted the  
vanquished Dark Lord Grindelwald in his grotesque, killing sprees of innocent muggles and wizards alike.  
So naturally, they were supposed to be sent to Azkaban but with their immense power, it woundn't make  
any sense to send them there in the first place so they were banished.

Now, they were only a few of them left until now.

A black haired girl sat in the attic looking sorting through some things piled up in the boxes. Even  
though it was a school day, this girl never attended, she was home-schooled. It wouldn't matter if  
under-age magic was detected because the Ministry of Magic completely ignored this particular family  
so did the rest of the magical community.

Her mother had just stepped out for a few minutes but she never came back. It was nothing to worry about  
becasue her mother did this all the time, she just went back to looking through the boxes, she found what she  
was looking for and left the room. She ran lightly down the stairs and sat in the cosy armchair next to the fire.  
Her mum often said it reminded her of Hogwarts days in the Gryffindor Common Room. On every occasion,  
she would ask her mother why doesn't she go to Hogwarts and all her mum would reply with was simply because  
they didn't want them there. When she tried to ask why, her mother would suddenly change the topic and she never  
bothered to ask the question again, but she would soon find out 'why' soon enough.

Alex often liked to read her mum's old school books so her searching through boxes wasn't unusual. This book  
she was reading was her mum's yearbook. She was always fasicinated to see the moving pictures instead of  
the dull muggle pictures she's so accustomed seeing.

Usually, when her mother said she'll be back in a few minutes, it was 2 hours, Alex had gotten used to it because  
her mother always sat down with the next-door neighbour, Mrs. Slocombe to hear all the juicy gossip but today  
she felt something bad was going to happen because it was 5 hours since her mother came back, it was nearly 8  
in the evening.

2 hours later, she got an owl from her grandmother saying that her mum was killed, just those few words, no  
further explanation. Then everything after that seemed to go so fast, from Professor Dumbledore arriving at her  
doorstep the next day telling her about a new mission that she's involved in until now, being seated in Harry Potter's  
living room...well his aunt and uncle's anyway.

She was released from her brooding with footsteps coming down the stairs.

"Well, I guess I'm ready now." said Harry, buttoning his shirt.

"Alright, let's go then." she replied.

Exhaling deeply, she got up from the couch and lead Harry outside to her car. The BMW 7 Series...wizards do have nice taste.

The car ride to London was a quiet one, it was still early in the morning and it was a Saturday too, so not many cars were on the  
road. Glancing over at Harry, Alex noticed that his shoulders sagged and he looked like how she felt...alone.  
'Well, someone has to break the silence,' she thought.

"In here's rather boring don't you think?"

"would you like to listen to the radio?" she asked.

"Sure." Harry replied quietly

Turning it on, the DJ was playing 'Since You've Been Gone' , followed by ' Away From The Sun' and then to make things worse  
'Miss You'  
'Blimey, what a choice of songs to hear when you're in a mood like this,' she thought and quickly turned off the radio.

Taking a closer look at the boy, he looked as though he hadn't eaten in days.

"Hungry?" she asked

"I was wondering when you were gonna ask me that question!" he said with a small smile.

Laughing, she pulled into the nearest restaurant. It wasn't even a fast food one, like she would've usually chosen, it was an all you  
can eat buffet, with actual food.


	2. Relisations

**_Chapter 2: - Realisations_**

The next few hours were kinda silent as Alex sat watching Harry devour three full plates of food without hesitating once.

"Aren't you hungry?" he asked between bites.

"Nah." she said.

Lately she begain to lose her appetite. Since her mother died, she hasn't been herself. She suddenly remembered that couple  
days before her mother died, until now, she didn't notice that her mother was acting strange, as though afraid of something and  
her mum was never afraid.

She was awaken from her reverie by a tap on her shoulder. She turned to see a familiar face, someone who she only pretened to hate,  
her ex-fiance, Jay.

"Hi." she said quietly.

"I need to talk to you." he said.

She turned to look at Harry, he was still finishing off the plate of pancakes.

"I'll be right back, ok?"

"Where're you going?" Harray asked.

"To talk to a friend." she answered.

He seemed satisfied with that answer as he went back to his breakfast. Alex walked over to Jay standing at the window.

"What is it?" she said coldly.

"Well, I just wanted to say that I'm sorry about your mum," he said apologetically.

"Thanks," she said, "but that's not all is it?"  
_  
_"Well no, I'm kinda getting married," he said.

Alex stared at him as if telling him to continue.

"To Melissa." he finished.

Sighing, she turned away from him, glancing at her car, she noticed a black clad figure inspecting it and now turning to enter the  
restaurant.

"I'm sorry, but I have to go." she said running towards Harry.

"But..." he started.

"We'll talk later." she said rushing out of the restaurant, grabbing Harry as she did.

"Where are we going?" demanded a quite flustered Harry.

"Away!" was all she said.

Before getting into the car, she transfigured a tin on the sidewalk into a replica of her car. When speeding off, Harr caught a glimpse  
and breathed in deeply.

"Lucius Malfoy, what was he doing there?" he asked.

"Looking for you." she answered while checking the rearview mirrors.

"Oh," he said, "who was that guy you were talking to?"

"My ex-fiance." she said abruptly.

At the tone of her voice, Harry fell silent.

"We have to make another stop." she said a few minutes later.

"Where?" asked Harry.

"My house." she stated calmy.

Harry watched her, she looked tired, frustrated and depressed. She looked like someone who didn't know what to do aboout life anymore, it seemed as though she's lost someone close to her. He felt as though he knew what she was going through, simply because that was how he felt right now, empty and alone.

It was now 5.30 in the morning as Alex pulled up in her garage. She awoke Harry and took him inside the house.

"I'll only be a few minutes," she said, " I just have to get some things."

Harry nodded and looked around. There were many pictures on the wall, most were of the wizarding world. Then something caught his eye.  
The Walker Family Tree Tapestry on the wall, but this seemed to lead into another one. He knelt down, tracing a finger along the 'branches'  
of it.  
'So that's her name.' he thought as he traced 'Alexandra Helena Walker.'

Continuing up the tree, his eyes suddenly widened as he saw the name 'Dimitrius Eirian Malfoy' . Now he realised what other family trees it lead into.  
Scanning across, he sighted Lucius Malfoy, his son Draco, his wife Narcissa Black-Malfoy, Bellatrix Black - Lestrange and his finger coming to rest  
at Sirius Black. As if that was the key, the whole tapestry lit up, revealing the different family trees of Walker, Malfoy and Black.  
Suddenly realising the other two families' dark history, Harry's mind went into full gear and told him to run, but his feet didn't go anywhere. As he was frozen  
in time, Alex came back from whereever she went, carrying a rather large trunk.

"What are you looking at?" she asked looking oddly at Harry, but no answer came, he just stared. Turning to see what he was looking at, she turned rigid.

"Oh," she whispered, "look, why don't you sit down."

Apparently, he didn't hear her, he just continued staring.

"You're related to all of them?" he finally said.

Sighing, she sat down, "Yes, but they don't take my family into regard at all."

"Why?"

"I don't know," she said, "Come on, let's go."

"Wait, so if you're a pure blood, do you think of yourself as better than us half-bloods and muggles?" he asked curiously, with his eyebrows raised.

"If I did, then would I be driving a car like that, or even driving a car?" she said with a slight grin.

Meanwhile, in the Noble and Most Ancient House of Black, the occupants were preparing for Harry Potter's anticipated arrival.

"Do you think he's gonna like this?" asked a worried voice.

"'Course he will." said another voice.

"But suppose he doesn't?" squeaked a voice.

"Come off it will you!" said the now irritated voice of Ron, "stop worrying!"

Muttering under their breaths, Ginny and Hermione stalkd out of the room, leaving Ron Weasley and Remus Lupin behind.

"Crazy those two." said Ron.

"They're not crazy, just worried." came the calm voice of Lupin.

Without argument, Ron went back to his cleaning. He wondered how Harry would react to coming back to this place, looking up at the clock, he decided to get ready too. Excusing himself, he went in search of his sister and his crush.  
Remus Lupin was looking even more disheveled than before, first James, now Sirius, he didn't konw how much more  
of this he could take, he sat holding his head in his hands as he remembered that night in the Department of Ministries.

_Only one pair was still battling, apparently unaware of the new arrival. Harry saw Sirius duck Bellatrix's jet of red  
light, he was laughing at her._

'Come on, you can do better than that!" he yelled, his voice echoing around the cavernous room.

The second jet of light hit him squarely in the chest. The laughter not quite dying from his face-

He was awoken from his thoughts by a thunderous crash followed by a long line of swearing afterwards. Chuckling  
to himself, he lifted a very disgruntled Nymphadora Tonks off of the floor.

"Wotcher Remus." she said cheerily as she dusted off her clothes.

"Hello Nymphadora." said Remus quietly.

Tonks flushed at this, usually, when being called by her first name, she would hex whoever had done it into oblivion,  
but since it's Remus, she would let it slide.

"Molly says that it's time for breakfast," she said warmly, "are you coming?"

"In a minute," he answered, " I just have to change first."

Things have gotten a little tense between them since Tonks came back from St. Mungo's. Both of them, obviously  
still grieving over the loss of Sirius, got drunk and ended up in each other's arms, naked. After that, they tried to distance themselves from each other but unfortunately for them, it didn't work.

As she watched him, she couldn't help but gawk at his well-toned body and muscles, in spite of all the scratches, he still looked good. His sandy brown hair wit ha few grey streaks made him look even more handsome than he already was, even sexy but his face, made him look older than he already was, even if he was only 36. How could she love him?

"Well, I'm done," he said, "let's go."

With Tonks leading him downstairs, Remus couldn't help but notice her shapely figure, even if she changes it all the time, but for the past few weeks, she wore her natural appearance, showing how much she looked like her cousin Sirius and her Aunt Bellatrix. To him, she was way out of his league. How could a lowly werewolf love a woman like her?

"Oh, Remus, there you are dear." said a trying to be cheerful Molly Weasley as Remus and Tonks entered the kitchen.

Looking around the table, he saw the Weasleys, all 8 of them except Percy, Hermione, with Tonks seated next to her, Moody, Mundungus Fletcher, Hestia Jones and Kingsley Shakelbolt, two Ministry Aurors along with Tonks and Dumbledore. Dinner was usually quiet now, no more quarrels between 'Dung and Molly or the jokes of Fred and George. Just the occasional 'pass the salt' or 'pass the bread'.

"So," said the ever-chewing Ron, interupting everyone's brooding, "how's Harry getting here?"

Everyone turned to look at Dumbledore.

"The muggle-way." he said, his blue eyes twinkling.

"Walking?" Ron asked in a mid-bite, making everyone turn to look at him.

"No you twit!" said Ginny irritably, " a car."

"Oh." said Ron quietly.

"Honestly." sighed Hermione, rolling her eyes.

"Wake up Harry," she said nudging him, " we're here."

"What time is it?" he asked while rubbing his eyes.

"7.30," she replied, "now come on, help me with these."

When they finally carried everything up the steps, as though being sensed, the door opened revealing a tall man with very long hair and a white beard reaching his belt, wearing midnight blue robes which matched his eyes.

"Hello Harry," said Dumbledore, "you were treated well I trust?"

"Yes, thank you Professor, listen, I'm really so-" he began but Dumbledore cut him off.

"There is no need to explain, I understand." he said quietly as he ushered them inside. Unfortunately, on their way to the kitchen, they met Tonks on the way, who tripped over her feet and fell down the stairs, waking up Mrs. Black.

"I'm so sorry." said Tonks repeatedly

"Oh no." Harry groaned as he blocked his ears.

On seeing them, Mrs. Black started her customary screeching.

"ABOMINATION, FLITHLY HALF-BREEDS, BLOOD TRAITORS!" she screamed.

Dumbledore and Harry tried desparately to close the curtains but they just won't move.

"Please, let me." said Alex putting down Hedwig's cage.

With a small grin on his face, Dumbledore obliged while Harry just looked confused.

"Hello Auntie." she said smiling.

Mrs. Black looked as if she saw a ghost and ran screaming out of the picture, leaving Harry and Tonks gawking  
at what had just happened.

"Why did she run away?" asked Harry.

"Dunno." shrugged Alex, leaving Harry and Tonks in a state of confusion.

"Come, let's go down to the kitchen, so I can explain why our young mistress is here." said Dumbledore, ushering them all to the kitchen. Alex got some rather odd stares as she entered.

"Everyone, this is Alexandra Walker." said Dumbledore.

"Walker?" hissed Mrs Weasley, "what is she doing here, Albus?"

"I came to help," said Alex coldly, "if that's a problem for you."

"If you came to help," said one of the older wizards acidly, "then I might as well kill myself right now, just to save you the trouble."

"Apparently Professor, this was a bad idea to begin with, they'll never understand." said Alex sadly as she got up to leave.

"Stay where you are Miss Walker," said Dumbledore, "we'll tell them now."


	3. Introductions

**_(A.N)- srry it's so short, but still plz review, i'm open to any suggestions_**

Chapter 3: - Introductions

"Ok then," said Kingsley, "tell us."

"Why was everyone shouting at you?" Harry whispered to Alex.

"You'll hear in a minute." she said with her eyes still focused on Dumbledore.

"Alright, settle down, " said Dumbledore, "as most of you will know, the Walker family was allegedly working with the dark wizard  
Grindelwald ,it was said that they sold Harry's grandparents to him and they were once known for their own...shall I say unnatural killing sprees of innocent muggles."

"But-"

A sudden crash prevented him from continuing.

"Sorry." said Hermione who was picking up the broken dishes from off the floor.

"Your family was responsible for the deaths of mine?" asked Harry quietly.

"No," she said irritably, "just listen."

"As I was saying," continued Dumbledore, "the Walkers did not and I repeat, did not betray the Potters and they did not work with  
Grindelwald either, they only supported him but in the past, they were not responsible for the murders of muggles and wizards also. Now remember, those who came from dark wizarding families are not always bad. You should'nt judge a book by it's cover."

"We will continue this discussion when the rest of the Order members arrive, in which you are all invited and I mean everyone, it starts in an hour, so that leaves time for both of you to settle." he said gesturing to Harry and Alex.

At this, broad smiles appeared on the faces of the twins, Harry, Ron, Hermione and Ginny while Mrs. Weasley pursed her lips, she knew better than to cross Dumbledore. Alex just stood there, apparently pondering what she shoud do next. Seeing this, Ginny grabbed her arm.

"Come on then," she said with a smile, "let me show you where you're gonna stay."

Smiling, Alex allowed Ginny to drag her upstairs to be properly introduced to her soon to be students.

"Look who I brought." annouced Ginny as she opened the door.

"Hi." said Alex shyly.

"I think we shoud get to know her," said Ginny, "I mean, she's just around our age so she wouldn't be as stuffy as the adults."

"Alright then," said Ron, "come on, you can sit down right next to Harry."

She sat down taking in what she was seeing, 'Harry has such nice friends, I wish I had friends like that.' she thought.

"So, Alex," came the voice of Ginny, interrupting her thoughts, "my name is Virginia Weasley, but you can call me Ginny."

"This is Hermione Granger," she said pointing to Hermione, "the smartest witch in the 6th year I might add." making Hermione blush.

"My brother Ronald Weasley, or Ron as he likes to be called and you know Harry." finished Ginny.

Staring at her, Hermione noticed that Alex looked very shy, so Hermione voiced this opinion.

"You look rather shy y'know." she said to Alex.

Laughing, Alex said winking, "Don't let this face fool you, I'm alot more dangerous than you think." Even though they were laughing, she was quite serious.

"Yeah, I hear ya." laughed Hermione.

"Whatever."

"Hey," said Ron, "d'you know how to play wizard's chess? Maybe we could play a few games."

"You don't wanna play chess with Ron," warned Harry jokingly, "he'd beat you into next week."

"Speaking from personal experience aren't we Harry?" chided Ron, making Harry flush a bright pink.

"I can take a challenge and I think I can beat you too," she said with a rather wicked grin on her face, "come on."

"Yeah, go on Ron." piped Ginny.

Taking the chessboard from his trunk, he set it up on the floor, taking the white pieces for himself and leaving the black to his opponant to begin a gruelling game of chess. Unfortunately for Ron, he was soundly beaten and what's worse, is that his opponant had only learnt how to play a few weeks ago.

"Oh no!" cried Ron holding his face in his hands, "5 games!"

"I guess your not the champ anymore now are you?" said Alex with a smirk.

"Oh shut up!." snapped Ron throwing a pillow at her.

"So that's how it is then?" she asked mockingly as she hit Ron with the pillow.

Soon enough, they began a messy pillow fight, causing all of the feathers to fall out. Laughing, they cleaned it up, as they did Mrs. Weasley stuck her head through the door.

"It's time for the meeting to start," she informed, with her lips still pursed, "and Alexandra, Professor Dumbledore has asked you to bring the blue portfolio that he has given you."

"Alright." said Alex rather coldly, no one really called her by her full name.

"Alright mum, we're coming." replied Ron.


	4. The Meeting

CHAPTER 4: THE MEETING  
On entering the room they got many welcoming smiles and nods from many Order Members, well not everyone.

"What are they doing in here?" shouted an outraged Professor Snape.

"They are here to attend the meeting Severus, is that a problem?" said Dumbledore, as calmly as ever. But before Snape could answer, his collegue, Professor McGonagall put a warning arm on his shoulder, forcing him to sit down.

"Thank you," said Dumbledore, "now, let's get on with business."

"Fir-"

"But Professor," interrupted Hermione, "aren't you going to introduce Alex?"

"She has already been introduced Miss Granger," said Dumbledore smiling, "but thank you anyway."

Blushing, Hermione sat down.

"As I was saying," continued Dumbledore, "Lord Voldemort has been relatively quiet since the night at the Ministry and even though he was exposed, some people still think that we are lying, namely, Fudge's supporters. On tonight's agenda, we will see how things are going in the Ministry," he said nodding to the Ministry Aurors and workers, "other wizarding families and communities across the globe and a review from our undercover agent." he said, nodding to Severus.

"Kingsley and Nymphadora, the floor is yours." said Dumbledore as he sat down.

Tonks flinched at being called by her first name but nevertheless, she stood up.

"Well, now that the prophecy has been broken, we thought the Death Eaters had no reason to come back to the Ministry, but unfortunately, they haven't, apparently, their recruiting new Death Eaters. I know about 3 of them that already took the mark." she said

"Who are they?" asked McGonagall.

"Marcus Flint, that boy Montague, he has older brother that works there and so does Warrington all of them were on the Slytherin Quidditch team." said Snape before Tonks could answer.

"Why thank you Severus." said Tonks sarcastically as Snape rolled his eyes at her comment.

"Also, you will be pleased to know that there at the recent Wizengamot meeting, there were plans to put Fudge out of office. This will come into action in 1 month," continued Tonks. "Oh, before I forget, there will be another trial that Harry has to attend."

"But-" stammered Harry.

"No, you're not in trouble," said Dumbledore, "it's a trial to decide the fate of one Delores Umbridge."

"You will be acting as a witness." added Kingsley.

Exhaling loudly, Harry sank into his chair feeling relieved, while Ron just laughed and patted him on the back.

"Ok, now, Severus." said Dumbledore, gesturing to Professor Snape.

"The Dark Lord has not summoned us for a long time, but now that he knows the full prophecy, he will stop at nothing to get rid of Mr. Potter. None of us know what he's going to do, not even Bellatrix and that's strange." said Snape.

"But we also have new members, " continued Snape darkly, " quite a few students from my house and strangely, one former Ravenclaw student."

"Ravenclaw!" choked McGonagall.

"Who is he Professor?" asked Alex making her presence known in the room.

"Jason MacCartney." answered Snape.

Toying with the ring on her finger, she simply nodded.

"And the Slytherin students?" someone asked.

"Gregory Goyle, VIncent Crabbe and Draco Malfoy." said Snape, "but not willingly I might add. At least not for Mr. Malfoy."

If anyone had any comments, they kept it to themselves.

"Now for the final part of the meeting," said Dumbledore standing, "Miss Walker, would you please distribute the contents of the folder to the recipients."

"In the envelopes, you would find your O.W.L Results." said Dumbledore smiling, "You have done very well."

Sharing out the envelopes, she couldn't help but smile at their reactions as they opened the envelopes.

"Harry, Ron, Hermione and Ginny," continued Dumbledore, "members of staff at Hogwarts, may I present to you the new Defense Against the Dark Arts Teacher, Miss Alex Walker."

Alex smiled as she heard the cheers from the children, Tonks, Lupin, McGonagall and to everyone's surprise, Professor Snape.

"Well, you are dismissed." said Dumbledore amidst the cheers.

"Harry, Ron, Hermione, Ginny, would you please stay behind." said Dumbledore, "You too Miss Walker, or should I say Professor?"

As the others left, he motioned them to the sofa in the corner, while he stood facing them.

"Now, Alex is very well experienced in the Dark Arts, more experienced than an auror, I might add." he said proudly.

"She will also be helping you, Harry, with your Occulmency, she is a very highly skilled Occulmens and Legilimens, so your lessons won't be as, well painful as when you were with Professor Snape. She along with Miss Tonks and Remus, will be helping you with the D.A. and she tells me that she has a few surprises in store for you and your classmates, so be prepared." finished Dumbledore leaving the 4 students there with their new teacher.

"What did you get in your O.W.L.S?" she asked, breaking the silence.

"Umm, let me see." he said as he opened his letter and began to read it aloud.

_Dear Mr. Potter,  
we are pleased to inform you that your Ordinary Wizarding Levels were very well done and we hope to see you excel further in the future. Your results are disclosed below._

Best wishes,  
Yours Sincerely  
Minerva McGonagall   
_Deputy Headmistress  
Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry_

Defence Against The Dark Arts - O  
Transfiguration - EE  
Charms - O  
Potions - O  
Care of Magical Creatures - EE  
Divination - P  
Herbology - EE  
Astronomy - A

  
"That's great Harry." exclaimed Hermione.

"Yeah it is." said Ron grinning.

"Well, I hope I do as well as you did," sighed Ginny, "I mean, with a joke of a teacher like Umbridge, we would be sure to fail."

"That's not going to be a problem, Ginny." said Alex as she walked out of the room.

"How can you be so sure?" asked Ginny.

"I'm your new teacher, remember?" she said.

"What did the two of you get?" asked Harry, peering over their shoulders to see their results.

"Well, I got the same as you but in Potions and Charms, I got Exceeds Expectations." said Ron.

"Hermione?" asked Harry, "what about you?"

"All O's." answered Hermione.

"What?" she asked as her two best friends' eyes popped out of their heads.

"Well, what did you expect?" laughed Ginny.

Shrugging, Ron said, "At least I'm not going to be stuck with Snape for two more years."

"That's true." agreed Harry.

"Well, I'm going to owl my parents, I'll see you in a bit." said Hermione as she walked through the door.

"We'll be upstairs in the library." called Ron.

"Library?" asked Harry

"Yeah, it's one of the cleanest places in the house." replied Ginny.

"Oh."

Meanwhile, in her room upstairs, Alex looked for anything that could reveal the truth about her ex-fiance. On finding her mother's old yearbook, she ceased her search. Dusting of the cover, it read,

HOGWARTS SCHOOL OF WITCHCRAFT AND WIZARDRY  
The Graduating Class of 1979

It always interested her to look through her mum's school things for her to picture what it was like to go to school at Hogwarts. On the first place, she saw a message from a girl named Lily Evans, it said "Despite what they say, you'll always be my best friend."

'Hmm.' thought Alex, what did they say.

Next to that, she saw a picture of her mum and this Lily Evans hugging. Looking more closely at the picture, she noticed that she had seen these eyes before. Hitting herself in the forehead, she realised that this was Lily Evans Potter, Harry's late mum. Smiling to herself, she continued to scan through the book and coming to a screeching halt at the name and picture of a couple.

"Marcus Zambini and Katarina MacCartney." it read.

In complete shock at what she just saw, she bolted up and out of the room in search of a library.  
__


	5. Broken

Chapter 5: -Broken

"So," began Harry, "how are things going with you and Dean?"

"Practically glowing, she answered, "Things couldn't be better. We went out the other night you know."

"Really?" she nodded. "Where?"

"To a football game in Wembley. West Ham versus Liverpool." she said, smiling beside herself.

"Liverpool won though," she added, "but we still had fun, even though I didn't understand what was happening."

"Did the two of you even watch the game, Ginny?" asked Harry, with a mischievous smile on his face.

"Harry!" Ginny exclaimed, punching him playfully on the shoulder.

"Well did you?" he asked again while Ginny rolled her eyes.

"I don't think I have to answer that question." said Ginny stubbornly, with a troublesome glint in her eye.

Chuckling to himself, Harry walked out of the kitchen with Ginny trailing behind in silence. Earlier, Ron had excused himself to go upstairs because he had to go to feed Pig and clean his room. This is the same person, who not only last year, utterly despised the word cleaning and would do anything to get out of doing it. So to those who knew him, he was obviously up to something.

"Oh!" cried Ginny, making Harry turn to look at her in surprise.

"What is it?" asked Harry.

"I forgot to tell you," she started.

"Tell me what?" he interrupted.

"Ron likes Hermione," she squeaked. "He'd been staring at her picture and drooling when he thought no one was looking."

"Well it's about time though," said Harry, "I was getting tired of their constant bickering."

"So have I," agreed Ginny, "and you know what?"

"What?"

"I think Hermione likes him too."

"Do you really think so?" asked Harry.

"Yeah, sure I do-" she started, before she was interrupted by loud yelling which was coming from the study. This loud noise turned out to be the one of the many heated arguments between Ron and Hermione, which made people think if they really liked each other or completely hated each other to the highest extent.

"They could really wake the dead with all that racket." said Fred and George Weasley, who were among the many that opened their doors to see where the shouting was coming from.

"Seems like they're at it again." said a quite dishevled Tonks who was fixing her blouse and rather discreetly coming from the room of a certain werewolf. Fortunately for her, no one gave her a second glance.

"RONALD WEASLEY!" bellowed an extremely angry Hermione.

"How dare you open my letter!" she screeched.

"I was only trying to see what was in it," said Ron apologetically, "you know, to protect you."

"There's something called letter screening, Ronald." growled Hermione.

"And if you didn't notice, it was sent from muggle post." she added.

"Oh."

"But that doesn't give you the right to open my mail!" she screeched.

"I was only checking t..to see if, to see..." he stutterred.

"To see what!" she spat.

"Toseeifitwasfromanotherguy." he mumbled.

"What?" asked Hermione, getting more annoyed than confused.

Giving up, Ron shrugged his shoulders and looked down at his feet. Sighing, Hermione sat down and put her face in her hands, thinking of a way to say this to Ron mildly.

"It's only a letter from Viktor." she said finally.

"Krum?" she nodded.

"You're still talking to him?" Ron exploded.

"He's my friend, Ronald!" shouted Hermione.

"But he's a boy," said Ron, "and you're-"

Stopping in a mid-sentence, Ron looked at Hermione curiously and continued.

"You're a girl!" he finished.

Somewhere outside the room everyone shook their heads and thought to themselves, 'He shouldn't have said that.'

"That's rich!" yelled Hermione, "This from someone who didn't know I was a girl for what? 6 years?"

"All I'm saying is that you shouldn't be talking to him." said Ron calmly.

"And why not?"

"Well, he's big and hairy and..and.."

"And what?"

"I don't know what he sees in you." stated Ron.

Hermione looked as though she'd been slapped in the face.

"A helluva lot more that I see in you!" she hissed, as she stormed out of the room, slamming the door behind her.

Alex watched as Hermione brushed past her and stalked into her room. Her eyes were red and stinging with tears.

"Are they always like this?" she asked Tonks.

"Yep," she said simply, "If it's not Harry's outbursts, it's Ron and Hermione's bickering. Constant bickering, mind you."

"Oh." replied Alex, looking immediately stressed.

Patting her shoulder, Tonkes said cheerily, "Hey, don't worry about it, they're great kids."

Nodding, she turned to look at Tonks, noticing her shabby appearance.

"Why d'you look so untidy?" she asked curiously, making Tonks blush for some strange reason.

"Umm, cleaning." Tonks answered, a litte too quickly.

"With your lipstick smeared?" said Alex, with a smirk.

Tonks opened her mouth and shut it again, speechless.

"Don't worry, I won't tell anyone." she said, winking.

"Just clean yourself up." she added.

"Thanks." mumbled Tonks.

"Oh!" she said turning around, "beofre I forget, can you tell me where the library is?"

"No problem," said Tonks, "it's straight up the stairs, third door on the left."

"Thanks!" she said, as she sprinted up the stairs.

As she climbed the stairs, she looked at the pictures of these corrupt pure-blood families on the wall, starting with the Blacks. There was a younger and much nicer Cecilia Black, with her husband Orion and her sons Sirius and baby Regulus. It looks like the year before Sirius entered Hogwarts. Then there was another picture of her 'dear' aunt, with her nieces Bellatrix, Narcissa and Andromeda, who were staring up at her rather coldly. Following that was a picture of the Malfoys'. There was Lucius, whom she supposed was in his second year at Hogwarts, his father, Dimitrius and his mother Lucia. Continuing upwards, she sighted more pure-blood families of the ages, including the Snapes' and the Walker-Blacks. The latter made her turn her head so quickly that it began to hurt. Apparently, no one had been in this part of the house for years because the picture of her family was still here. Leaning against the wall, she slowly took in what she saw, she was completely dumbfounded but sure enough, it was there. She saw her grandparents, Christian Black and Sarafina Walker, her dear aunt's sister and there was her mother, Angelina Helen Walker-Black. For 20 minutes, she stood there, looking at her family's picture and shocked at the fact that it was still in this house but no doubt that Mrs. Black must have torched the part of the family tapestry that held the name of Walker. The reason for it was oblivious to her. Only the people that knew the reason, were dead. Shaking her head, she continued up the stairs to the library, finally figuring out why she used Walker as her last name instead of Black.

Ron sat in the study with his head in his hands, recalling the argument he had had with Hermione, not too long ago. Harry came into the room and stood above his best friend, patting him on the shoulder. Ron looked up at him, with his eyes red. Despite the fact that they were best friends for over 5 years now, he had never seen Ron cry.

"Why do I have to be such an arse?" he said.

"She doesn't even know how much I love her," he sobbed, "and now she'll never know."

"Don't say that, Ron." said Harry, sitting on the couch next to his friend.

"How d'you know that, Harry?" said Ron, looking up," did you see the way she looked when she walked out of the room?"

"She'll never speak to me again."

"Ron-"

"No Harry, let me finish," said Ron firmly, but still wiping his eyes with his sleeve, "she has no right to choose me, I mean, look at me to Krum. I'm no match for him, he's big, and athletic and did I mention big? And, he's rich."

"Ok, Ron, you stop right there," said Harry, "all of that, that you just said, it's just pure b.s, mate."

"Just because you come from a poor family doesn't mean that she won't accept you. I mean, come on, our best friend, we've all known each other for over five years, and if she didn't accept you, do you think that she'd even be talking to you?" said Harry.

"Well that's true." agreed Ron.

"Well go talk to her." urged Harry.

Nodding, Ron said, "I think I will, thanks Harry."

"Hey, what are best friends for?" said Harry with a grin.

With that, Ron marched downstairs to Hermione's room, preparing to tell her something that he kept hidden for four years.


	6. With Arms Wide Open

Chapter 6: - With Arms Wide Open

The Noble and Most Ancient House of Black's library was nearly the same size of the one at Hogwarts, it had 15 ft majestic oak doors with golden brass handles, marble floors with a beautiful ceiling, almost like the one in the Cistene Chapel. It was no doubt, the cleanest part of the house. With all these books, Alex was sure that she'd find what she was looking for. With her mother's yearbook in hand, she searched for the book that was suggested by Professor Dumbledore. 'Pure-blood Families of the Dark Ages'. While she was there, she thought it a good idea to get some books to prepare her 6th and 7th year students in September. Smiling to herself, she thought, ''Lupin and Hermione would love this." but on seeing the types of books that were in here, she quickly dismissed that thought.

"Ah, here it is." she said aloud.

Quickly scrolling down the contents page, she found what she was looking for. Scanning through the pages, she found the name Zambini.

__

THE ZAMBINI FAMILY  
On arriving in Great Britain in the early 1950's from Hungary, the Zambini's tried to a little business for themselves in the Dark Arts. Mikail and Anna Zambini, who prospered fruitfully in Budapest found it quite difficult to live in this country because of it's harsh rules against the Dark Arts and those who practised it. Soon after, they found friends in the Malfoy and Snape families, who benefitted greatly in their evil practices and eventually, their little business soon grew worldwide, thus creating an opening for the Dark Lord Grindelwald's protege to begin his rise to power. In August of 1961, Anna Zambini gave birth to their small son, Marcus. Unfortunately for his parents, Marcus didn't turn out exactly how they expected. Being admitted into Hogwarts several years later, he befriended a young irish muggle born witch named Katarina MacCartney. But with him being in Slytherin and her in Ravenclaw, they couldn't be seen together. It was not until their final year at Hogwarts, they let their relationship come out into the open. With his parents deceased, they had no problem whatsoever. It was also then, that Katarina became pregnant with their first son, Jason, who was given his mother's maiden name and later, in 1980, she gave birth to her second son, Blaise, who was given his father's name, since Marcus and Katarina were wed. Blaise now attends Hogwarts and is in Slytherin House.

The book didn't mention what kind of dark arts they practised, but Alex definately knew what it was. She shuddered at the thought of it and exited the room.

Meanwhile, downstairs, an extremely nervous Ron knocked on Harry's door.

"Harry?" said Ron nervously.

"Ron!" exclaimed Harry, "I thought you were supposed to be talking to Hermione."

"I was but I panicked." explained Ron, "I was about to knock on her door when it hit me."

"When what hit you?" asked Harry.

"What if she turns me down?" said Ron, "I mean-

Rolling his eyes, Harry sat down on the bed, thinking of a way to get this through his friend's thick head.

"Ron will you shut up for a minute, please!" shouted Harry.

At Harry's tone of voice, Ron went silent immediately.

"Ok, look, I know Hermione might be angry, but that doesn't mean that she'll turn you down, Ron. Stop being so bloody pessimistic and look towards the future. Your possible future with the girl of your dreams." finished Harry.

"Well, since you put it that way." he said, smilling slightly.

"Good." grinned Harry, "now go on."

Ginny walked into the room, without knocking and closed the door behind her. Walking towards the bed, she thought of what to say to her best friend to make her feel better in anyway.

"'Mione?" she asked, as the girl looked up, "how are you feeling love?"

"Better I guess." she said softly, as Ginny sit on the bed, putting a comforting arm around her friend.

"Ok, well that's good, right?" said Ginny soothingly, hoping that she wouldn't cry again, but that was one wish that wasn't coming true anytime soon, ''my git, of a brother will come around sooner or later."

"But what if he doesn't," sobbed Hermione, "then he'll never know how I feel."

"Oh 'Mione, "whispered Ginny, "that won't happen, and besides, how would he know if you don't say anything?"

"Now, go get yourself cleaned up." said Ginny and with those words, she left the room.  
__

In the basement kitchen, Molly Weasley was preparing lunch and humming to herself as usual. Things haven't been the same for her since SIrius died. Even though they both used to be at each other's throats all the time, she couldn't help but think that she'd lost one of her dearest friends. Sirius, a rebellious man, was always nice and charming when the time was right and he always knew how to liven a party. Sighing, she took the casserole out of the oven and put in the pie.

Meanwhile, in a cave in the Himalayan Mountains, a meeting of the Death Eaters was about to begin. The external regions of this cave would deceive those of the average eye and appear as the scene of a recent avalanche but the inside was very different. Inside the cave was very spacious, with beautiful marble walls with granite floors and a high gothic ceiling. Along the walls were torches, equally spaced and beneath these walls, was a labyrinth. Some passages leading to "dead" ends, some torture chambers and the remainder are safe passages out of the moutains. In the cave room, 25 men stood in a circle, while their leader stood in the middle, surveying them. He was a tall man with raven hair and still looked good for his age but his eyes, they were his best and yet his worst characteristic. They could become trusting but then, treacherous. They could become brown, normal human eyes and then they could turn into red slits, like a snake's; yes, Tom Riddle was a man of many surprises, many people wouldn't have dreamed that the quiet, former headboy of Hogwarts could turn into the man who would eventually destroy them all...Lord Voldemort.

"Well," he said coldly into the darkness, "any reports?"

"Yes Master, " came the voice of Severus Snape, "there will be a new DADA teacher at Hogwarts this year-"

"Well I hope it's another one of those Ministry fools." he interrupted.

"Unfortunately not, sir." said Snape.

"Well then, who is he?" he inquired.

"She, sir, is a Miss Alexandra Walker-Black." corrected Snape at this, gasps went around the room.

"Black?" spat Voldemort, "I didn't know you had other family, Bella."

"She's related to Lucius too, Master." squeaked Bellatrix.

Voldemort sat in his chair and pondered this name, Walker-Black.

"Oh, yes." he said, with a sick, twisted smile on his face.

"I remember," he said, "you killed her mother not too long ago, yes?"

They nodded.

"And what of the book?"

"She didn't tell us of it, sir." replied Lucius.

"Very well." he said, "Anymore business?"

"Yes, sir." said Lucius, "I'm sure you know that we have new members."

Voldemort nodded.

"My son, Draco, and a few of his friends," continued Lucius, "and also, a former student of Hogwarts."

"Who is he?"

"His name is Jason MacCartney, the grandson of Anna and Mikail Zambini."

"Ah, yes." said Voldemort, surveying the youth, "how old are you?"

"I'm 19 years old, sir." he said nervously.

"Hmm.." said Voldemort, looking away. 

Lucius pulled the new recruit back into the circle, "Pull back on the hood and put your head down." he whispered.

"I will summon you for the next meeting, in the meantime, we have some research to do." he finished, as he gestured to Peter.

As the others left, Bellatrix, the one who was voted Voldemort's favourite person, was left to tell him this news.

"He knows the full prophecy, Master." she said quietly.

Voldemort's lip curled but he said nothing, Bellatirx quickly scampered away to find Peter.

Back at Number 12, Ron knocked at Hermione's door, after which, he was welcomed inside. Harry, Ginny, the twins, Tonks and Lupin's ears were glued onto the door, trying to hear what was going on inside. Ron sat on the armchair by the window, waiting on Hermione. He noticed that she was listening to her stereo. Soon enough, she was sitting on the bed opposite Ron and staring at him, waiting on who would say the first word. It was rather ironic that the song that was playing, actually depicted how Hermione was feeling.

"Listen to this song, Ron." she said softly.

_I looked away  
Then I look back at you  
You try to say  
The things that you can't undo  
If I had my way  
I'd never get over you  
Today's the day  
I pray that we make it through_

Make it through the fall  
Make it through it all

And I don't wanna fall to pieces  
I just want to sit and stare at you  
I don't want to talk about it  
And I don't want a conversation  
I just want to cry in front of you  
I don't want to talk about it  
Cuz I'm in Love With you

You're the only one,  
I'd be with till the end  
When I come undone  
You bring me back again  
Back under the stars  
Back into your arms

And I don't wanna fall to pieces  
I just want to sit and stare at you  
I don't want to talk about it  
And I don't want a conversation  
I just want to cry in front of you  
I don't want to talk about it  
Cuz I'm in Love With you

Wanna know who you are  
Wanna know where to start  
I wanna know what this means

Wanna know how you feel  
Wanna know what is real  
I wanna know everything, everything

And I don't wanna fall to pieces  
I just want to sit and stare at you  
I don't want to talk about it  
And I don't want a conversation  
I just want to cry in front of you  
I don't want to talk about it

And I don't wanna fall to pieces  
I just want to sit and stare at you  
I don't want to talk about it  
And I don't want a conversation  
I just want to cry in front of you  
I don't want to talk about it  
Cuz I'm in Love With you

I'm in love with you  
Cuz i'm in love with you  
I'm in love with you  
I'm in love with you

_  
Avril Lavigne - Fall to Pieces_

At the end of the song, Ron was in tears as he said, "I love you too, Hermione." 

With that, seeming as though, it was all she wanted to hear, she pulled him into a hug as though she would never let go and they kissed while they ignored the cheers and catcalls from outside the door.


	7. Surprises

Chapter 7: - Surprises

ON hearing the loud cheers and applauses from downstairs, Alex Walker looked up, rather annoyed that she was interrupted from her reserach. Sighing, she put down her highlighter and decided to go downstairs to see what all the noise was about.

"What's going on down here?" she ased irritably as she descended from the stairs and walked down the corridor. She wore a rather tight pair of black jeans, Harry noticed, a white blouse and black boots. She never wore make-up and apparently she never really needed it. 'Nice brown complexion and dark brown eyes.' he thought.

"Um, Harry," said Ginny, snapping her fingers, "are you alive in there?"

"Yeah, sorry." he answered.

They now drifted back to the main topic of conversation - 'Ron and Hermione's Relationship'

"I can't believe they're actually together." said Tonks grinning.

"Well it's about time isn't it." remarked Fred.

As he said these words, Ron and Hermione came out of the bedroom, Hermione was blushing and Ron was grinning like a chesire cat.

"Well," said George, "speak of the devil."

"Congrats, mate." said Harry, slapping Ron on the back.

"Thanks," said Ron, smiling, "I couldn't have do-"

He was interrupted by a loud screech from downstairs, "DINNER!" yelled Mrs. Weasley.

"Excellent!" exclaimed Ron, rubbing his hands together, "I'm starving."

"You're always starving." retorted Harry.

"Whatever!" he said to Harry, "come on, let's go to the kitchen." he said to everyone else.

As Harry turned to go downstairs, Alex stopped him.

"Harry," she said, "can you please help me with some boxes?"

"Sure, why not." he agreed, as he followed her up another set of stairs.

As he followed her, he looked around since he was never in this part of the house before and why he'd never been here. As if reading his mind - well she could anyway - she said, "We're on the third floor, just in case you're wondering."

"I assume you've never been up here because it's alot less safe than the rest of the rooms in this house." she continued.

Raising his eyebrows, Harry asked, "What do you mean, 'alot less safe'?" 

"Never you mind, we're here." she said, opening the door.

Harry looked around the room. It was similarly designed to that of a teenage muggle and wizard. It had a four - poster bed, with red and gold sheets and pillows, with scarlet hangings and somehow, the bed seemed to be hovering 3 feet off the ground with a giant snitch, supporting it. On the walls, were posters of rock groups, television personalites and rappers.

"Nice room." commented Harry.

"Thanks," she said, while picking up a rather thick, black bound book, "there's the box."

"What's in here anyway?" he asked curiously as he tried to peer inside the box.

"Nothing of your concern." she said, slapping his fingers away from the opening.

Picking up another box, she opened the door and made her way downstairs, with Harry trudging along behing her.

The kitchen was dark and gloomy, with an eerie silence, when the couple arrived. There was no one to be seen and Harry, immediately thinking that danger was near, took out his wand as he dropped the box on the floor. Looking around, there was no sign of struggle from anyone. Nothing seemed to be disturbed. Stumbling over to the fireplace, Alex checked to see if there was any sign of usage, but it was as cold as ice. Even though it was dark, they could've still seen, but barely.

"Can't see anything in here," muttered Harry, "_Lumos."_

As he did this, he thought he saw something, or even someone, moving around in the dark, when he squinted to get a closer look, the wand was taken from him and it's light was extinguished.

"_Nox." _whispered a hoarse voice from the darkness.

"Idiot boy," hissed Alex, "you'll alert whoever is here!"

"But where's everyone else?" he asked.

"I think we'll find that out soon enough," she said, "now, you stay right here, I'll be back in a minute."

Harry heard her muffled footsteps go down the corridor until they were inaudible. Wishing he still had his wand, he felt around in the darkness for an appropriate weapon. Since he was in the kitchen, he figured that he should find a knife but instead, he found - a hand?  
Dropping the thing, Harry started to retreat but he backed into someone, who immediately grabbed him.

"Aaarrgghh!" he yelled, as he tried to get away, but the person won't budge.

"SURPRISE!" shouted the Weasleys, Hermione and the rest of the order as the lighes came back on.

Harry, who looked as though he was having a heart attack, sank into a nearby chair, clutching his chest, breathing heavily. Chuckling, Ron went over to his best friend and clapped him on the back.

"Alright, mate?" said Ron, who was still chuckling.

Harry merely gave his friend a dark look, as he continued to look around. He saw loads of food and drink and Alex unloading his presents from the boxes that he helped her bring down.

"Had you fooled good, huh?" she asked, smirking.

"If you say so." said Harry, making his way toward the dinner table.

"Happy birthday, Harry!" said Ginny and Hermione, as they kissed him on the cheek.

"Thanks, Gin, thanks 'mione, " said Harry, beaming at those around the table, "who's idea was this anyway?"

"It was Alex's idea, really." said Ron, while stuffing his mouth with chicken. "Ginny and Hermione just helped and Mum cooked the food."

"Wow, thanks." said Harry.

"You'll thank me later." she said, as she helped herself to a baked potato.

Harry looked around the table at his friends and a few of his teachers. Remus was having, what seemed to be a rather 'interesting' conversation with Tonks, both of whom were blushing furiously. Ginny and the twins were laughing at Mundungus' jokes, Ron and Hermione whispering to each other and holding hands, while Mrs. Weasley looked on with profound admiration. Professors Dumbledore and McGonagall were talking to Mr. Weasley about the goings-on in the Ministry and strangely enough, Alex was in depth converse with Professor Snape. Frowning, Harry wondered what exactly was going on between them, it had looked rather serious by the grim expressions on their faces. Someone was missing, Harry thought, and he knew very well who it was. Here he was, stuck in a house on his 16th birthday with friends, but no family. First his parents, now Sirius; looking around the table, he wondered who esle in his life would be taken, so abruptly from him.

"Alright then," said Ron, interrupting everyone's conversation, "it's either time for presents or cake." Turning to Harry, he said, "It's up to you mate."

"Make it cake." chimed Fred and George, "we've got to get back to the shop."

"And I've got to get back to the Ministry." said Mr. Weasley.

"So do I." agreed Tonks.

"K, then Harry," said Mrs. Weasley, placing the cake in front of him, "blow out your candles and let these four, be on their way."

"Oooh, chocolate." said Ron, going to touch the icing.

"Ow, Gin, that hurt." he yelped a few seconds later, making everyone at the table laugh.

"Go on, then, Harry," said Hermione, "make a wish."

Thinking for a moment, Harry blew out the candles. Mrs. Weasley then cut four pieces of the cake, giving them to the twins, Tonks and Arthur, before they apparated to their respective places of business.

"Presents, now!" said Ron.

"Nah, I'll open then later," said Harry, "right now, I want to get some of this cake before there's none left."

Seeming satisfied with that, Ron digged into his slice of cake and soon enough, there was none left. Standing up, Professor Dumbledore used his wand to clear away the dishes.

"Now," said Dumbledore, "I have something to say. It is very important and I wish for all of you to listen. Some of what I am about to tell you shoud've been saved for the upcoming Order meeting, but I rather tell you all in the early."

"What is it, Professor." asked Ginny.

"I'm coming to that Miss. Weasley," said Dumbledore, "now, due to the recent deaths of two very important people, the division of their estates will now be read out."

"But only one person died." said Harry, sadly.

"No," corrected Alex, "two people."

"But-"

"Let him finish, Potter." said McGonagall, sternly.

"As I was saying, the divisions of the estates of Sirius. S. Black and Angelina. H. Walker- Black, will now be read out." continued Dumbledore.

"Who's that?" whispered Hermione.

"My mother." said Alex coolly.

"Remus," said Dumbledore, sitting down, "if you will."

_The last will and testiment of Sirius. S. Black, is as follows._

To my best friend and the last of the Marauders, Remus. J. Lupin, I leave my house, Number 12 Grimmauld Place and a sum of 250,000 galleons - by yourself some new clothes.

To the Weasley Family, I leave a sum of 125,000 galleons.

To Ron, I leave my favourite chess-set.

To Hermione, I leave all the books in the second level library - share some with Moony.

To my dear cousins Andromeda and Tonks, I leave a sum of 500,000 galleons.

And lastly, to my godson, Harry. J. Potter, I leave the entire Potter Estate.

  
Everyone was puzzled at the last bit of information.

"I thought the Potter Estate was completely destroyed." said Hermione.

"On the contrary, Miss Granger," said Dumbledore, "it wasn't, where Harry and his parents lived, was merely a hideout. The Potter Manor in Godric's Hollow, still remains there, but since no one has been there in sixteen years, it might need a little fixing."

"I have a house?" mumbled Harry, completely dumbfounded, "I don't believe it."

"Well believe it, Potter." hissed Snape.

"Now onto Ms. Walker-Black's will." said Dumbledore.

Nodding, she rose from her seat and took the parchment, willing herself not to cry.

_  
The final will and testiment of Angelina Walker- Black._

To my daugher, Alexandra Helena Walker- Black, I leave the entire Walker Estate in your care and I trust that you will put the things I have left for you, to good use and 'Good Luck'

To my dear friend Katarina MacCartney, I leave a sum of 250,000 galleons and the objects we discussed.

Alex's mind raced. What were the objects that her mum talked about and how in the bloody hell did she know Katarina MacCartney. She'd talk to Dumbledore about this later, right now, she had to hope that no one would ask what her mum meant by "good luck", because, she didn't know either. Folding the paper and putting it in her pocket, she sat down and tried to figure out why those two were acquainted. Professor Dumbledore handed the property deeds of the respective houses and estates to Harry and Alex.

"Why would your mum tell you 'good luck'?" asked Hermione curiously, "what is it that you have to do?"

Alex sat and stared at her, "You don't miss a thing, huh?" Hermione shaked her head.

"Well, I honestly don't know what she's talking about?"

"Miss. Walker, before you leave, we need to talk to you." said Dumbledore, gesturing to Snape and McGonagall. Turning to Harry, he said,  
"Harry, Umbridge's trial is tomorrow at 11 o'clock; you need to be there for 10.30."

"Why?"

"Just incase the time changes."

Nodding, Harry looked at Alex, she had gotten rather pale since she read out her mother's will. He wondered what Dumbledore had to talk to her about and since Snape was included in this conversation, it wasn't going to be good at all. Apparently, he wasn't the only one who shared these feelings, as Hermione nudged him in the ribs and beckoned him to follow her out into the hallway.

"What?" asked Harry.

"SShhh!" she hissed, pulling him into the foyer, with the others, just as Lupin and Tonks were passing.

"What is it?" asked Harry, for the second time.

"Didn't you find anything strange about the reactions from the reading of that will?" whispered Hermione.

"Who's will?"

"Alex's mum." answered Ginny.

"No, why?"

"Because, all of the adults looked up, shocked, I might add, at the name Katarina MacCartney." said Hermione.

"So?"

"SO!" whispered Hermione, obviously offended, "so, it means that we have to find out who she is."

"She's right," added Ginny, "even Alex looked puzzled at the name."

"And besides, we want to know what the conversation with Snape, Alex and Dumbledore is going to be about."

Harry looked at the two of them, then turned to Ron, who seemed to be there against his will.

"What are you saying, then?" he asked finally.

"I'm saying," said Hermione, "that we are going to find out what is going on and tonight, is our chance."

"Bloody wankers," said Ron, "the lot of you."

"Ron does have a point, Hermione, " agreed Harry, "suppose we get caught."

"What makes you so sure?" asked Ron, "I for one, don't want to face Snape, an angry Snape at that."

"Yeah," said Harry, "and what about Alex, I mean, we recently met her and already, we're nosing around in her business."

"We won't get caught." said Ginny firmly, "Harry, go get your invisibility cloak."

"No," said Harry.

"Why?" 

"Because, it's apparent that Dumbledore can see through them."

"What do you mean, see through them?"

"In our second year, we were in Hagrid's hut before he was taken away." began Harry.

"Yeah, and Dumbledore was there and he gave us some cryptic message about following the spiders for help or something." added Ron.

"Where is this going?" asked Hermione irritably.

"He was staring right at us, or in the corner where we were hiding under the cloak." finished Harry.

"Well, what are we going to do, then?" asked Ginny exasperatedly.

"Extendable Ears?" suggested Hermione.

"No," said Ron, "Mum threw them out and Fred and George haven't gotten around to making anymore of them."

"Oh, I have an idea." said Harry.

"What?"

"Did you ever hear of a Disillusionment Charm?"

"What's that?"

"Well, it makes you like a human chameleon, meaning you blend in with the colour and texture of your surroundings."

"That does sound like a good idea," said Hermione, "but, who is going to cast it for us?"

"What do you mean 'who's going to cast it for us?" asked Ron.

"We can't use magic outside of school, remember?"

"Oh."

"Look, we might as well use the invisibility cloak," said Harry.

"Why?"

"Because, if we ask someone to cast it for us," he explained, "they'd want us to give them a reason for doing it."

Thinking on that for a moment, Hermione finally said, "Alright, go get the cloak."

"I already have it." said Ginny.

Harry raised an eyebrow at her but said nothing.

"Ok, then," said Hermione, "let's go back into the kitchen."

It was a long time since they had gotten under that cloak and now, they had all grown several inches taller, especially Ron.

"What are you, Ron?" asked Harry, "7ft, now?"

"6ft 2in." Ron replied.

They finally got to the study, without stepping on their own feet and they went and hid behind the couch that was against the wall. They were just in time too, soon enough, the door swung open and in walked Professors Dumbledore and Snape, followed by Alex, who seated herself comfortably upon a settee in the corner.

Alex spoke first, "Well Professors, what is this all about?"

"Well, as you would'v realised," began Dumbledore, "Your mother has left everything in your possession."

"Yes," she said, "that has me quite shocked though, but what about my grandmother, doesn't she get anything?"

"When your mother died, your grandmother just fell ill, she seems to be lost, as though she'll-"

"Never be the same again." Alex finished, "I suppose that's why she's in St. Mungo's." Dumbledore nodded.

"Also, Miss Walker," came the cold voice of Snape, "I suppose you want to know about the two items that are in the possession of Katarina MacCartney and why."

"Naturally."

"Well, in their Hogwarts days, it appeared that they were never were the best of friends." said Dumbledore.

"That's putting it mildly, Professor, if you don't mind my saying." remarked Snape.

"Not at all, Severus."

"They twice, tried to kill each other," said Snape, "and your mother, who was extremely gifted, didn't need a wand to do so."

"Why did they want to kill each other?"

Sighing, Dumbledore said, "We're getting to that.''

"I think it was over some petty argument that started in our 5th year in Defense Against the Dark Arts class, on who knew the most defensive spells or something like that. Katarina was a muggle born and like Lily Potter and our young Hermione Granger, they strived for excellence in everything. That little argument soon boiled down and they became friends again." said Snape.

"Soon after, in early 6th year, they were arguing again." began Dumbledore.

"Over a guy, right?" asked Alex.

"Yes," answered Snape, "how did you know?"

"When I was younger, I used to love looking through my mum's old school stuff and one day, I came across her yearbook and in this yearbook, was a picture of a couple. When I asked my mum if she knew them, she immediately changed the subject." Alex explained.

"Your mum and Marcus shared the same affection for each other, they were young and in love and were to be married, and of course, your mum needed the support of her two best friends-" said Dumbledore.

"Lily Evans and Katarina MacCartney." said Alex.

From behind the couch, everyone turned to look at Harry, who was in uttermost shock.

"Lily was thrilled at the idea but Katarina wasn't." said Dumbledore, "she was extremely jealous of Angelina and spread a foul rumour about the school that your mum was sleeping with Michael Davies, who as very found of your mum at the time. This rumour turned out to be true, eventually."

"How so?"

"Marcus was devastated and vulnerable and he looked for comfort in the devil herself. He ended up getting her pregnant and your mum was outraged. She ended up torturing her with the Crutacius Curse, nearly getting herself expelled and when she found out that they were to be married, she nearly killed them both with the killing curse." said Dumbledore.

"After that, everyone was afraid of her, calling her a series of very profane names, full of grief, one afternoon, she skipped class and drowned her sorrows in firewhiskey at the lake. Apparently no one came to look for her, when Michael Davies comes strolling down the path and on seeing your completely wasted mother, he immediately takes advantage of her, making her pregnant with you. He then goes about the school telling everyone that she'd give it to anyone that asks, making your mother appear as a - what was the word Severus?" said Dumbledore.

"A qualified slut."

Alex sat stunned and so did the other four who were hiding behind the couch. After a while, she managed to get a few words out of her mouth.

"Why is her name in the will then?"

"The two items your mother was talking about were in the care of her other best friend, Lily Evans-Potter, but becasue Lily died, the alternate received them." said Dumbledore.

"Ok, and what are these 2 items?"

"They are books."

"Books?"

"Yes, books."

Alex laughed.

"This is no laughing matter, Walker." said Snape grimly.

"These books hold our entire futures." said Dumbledore.

"Well, what are they?"

"You've heard about what Marcus' family was known for." she nodded.

"Good." said Snape, "one of these books is exactly that."

"And the other, is one for Immortality."

"These are the books that Voldemort wants, these books are the reason for your mother's death."

"Katarina has to give you these books, but it won't be easy." warned Dumbledore.

"So, if Voldemort wants that Necromancy book, it means that there's gonna be alot of trouble around here and he wants the Immortalilty book for obvious reasons." said Alex.

Behind the couch, Harry and his friends sat stunned, they'd heard things that they weren't even supposed to know about.

"Has he said what he wants to do with that Necromancy book, Professor Snape?" asked Alex warily.

"No he hasn't."

"I think that we'll leave this conversation at that," said Dumbledore as he got up to leave, "oh and Alex, you have to escort Harry to the trial tomorrow morning.''

Snape stood and stared at the girl, she looked so sad and sorrowful now. Alex looked up and caught him staring at her.

"What?"

"You must tell no one of this conversation, not even the four Gryffindors that you have recently befriended." said Snape.

"I know." she said.

As he left, he gave her a sheet of paper with an address on it. "Take it, memorise it and destroy it."

Alex sat and stared for a while, trying to gather all she had just heard. She had a strange feeling in the pit of her stomach as if she knew what exactly Voldemort was going to do with that book. Crushing the paper, she got up and went into the kitchen to get that bottle of Odgen's she saw in the cupboard. Meanwhile the four under the invisibility cloak dashed out of the room and quickly retreated to the boys' bedroom, still in shock over the whole ordeal.

__


	8. Trials and Tribulations pt1

Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter or the other characters. I only own the plot, Alex Walker and the other characters u haven't seen in the Harry Potter series.

**_AN: _**srry if i took so long, but this chapter took really long to do and i haven't even finished it, it's in 2 parts. and also, i'm really srry if i haven't mentioned it b4, but thanx to all those who reviewed, even if i only have 3

Chapter 8: - Trials and Tribulations pt.1

Stunned. It was the only word to describe the four youths sitting on the floor, in the boys' bedroom at Number Twelve. Immortality was one thing but Necromancy - what in the world was that? and what would Voldemort want with it, wasn't he dark enough? - sure, the name sounded evil, but the three questions still remained. They always seemed to know things that weren't meant for them to hear, it had become so natural for them, that it seemed that they couldn't help themselves. Both Snape and Dumbledore's words remained in their memories as if it was the happiest moment of each of their respective lives.  
_  
"This is no laughing matter, Walker." _

"These books hold our entire futures."

What was it about the second book that has everyone worried? Hermione wondered. It was definately something she had to research. She still felt a little guilt about forcing her friends into easedropping on a conversation, which turned out to be more serious than she would have ever imagined. Not even Order members knew about it. She figured that she should've paid more attention to the muggle saying - curiosity killed the cat. What if they were caught? She could've only imagined the look on the face's of Snape and Dumbledore, and Alex, well, she would've been livid, knowing the people that she just met would want to invade her privacy. Hermione sighed and looked around at everyone else, both Harry and Ginny's faces were grim and Ron's was a sickly white. After a while, Harry regained his composure and broke the silence.

"What's necromancy?"

"I don't know." answered Hermione honestly, as the room went silent again. Everyone went back to their thoughts. Harry's had been the most troubling. These books were the answer to his defeat, he thought, so someone had to tell him about them sometime. A knock on the door broke the silence again as Alex poked her head through the door.

"Hey," she said smiling but seeing their grim expressions, she dropped her smile, "what's up with all these sad faces?"

"Nothing," said Hermione too quickly, "we were just thinking about Sirius."

Alex's eyes narrowed, she could spot a liar by a mile, she entered Hermione's mind and quickly retreated when she found a recent memory. Inwardly, she seethed with rage and yet, she was worried. It was bad enough they were growing up in a world with the likes of Voldemort and his ruthless Death Eaters, but now, they knew what he was after and they would no doubt want to know what certain things meant.

"Oh." she said sadly, "well, I just came to tell Harry that I'll be taking him to the trial tomorrow." But I guess they already know that, she thought.

"Ok, cool." said Harry, with a rather small grin.

"Right," she continued, "8.30 sharp, tomorrow morning, ok?" Harry nodded.

"Oh, yeah," she said, "before I forget, here are your Hogwarts letters, Professor Dumbledore gave them to me before he left."

"Alex?" asked Ginny, making her turn sharply, "Do you think it's possible that we could go to Diagon Alley tomorrow?"

She thought about it for a while, "Sure, but someone would have to go with you. I think it's Tonks' day off, so I guess she could take you."

With that, she closed the door and walked up the stairs with the bottle of firewhiskey in her hand, she wanted to continue the book she was reading - The Bourne Identity- it's really good. As the book dropped from her hand onto the floor, she immediately drifted off to sleep, she had a long day, which was full of too many surprises. She was in a dark tunnel, with an eerie atmosphere at the end of it and even though she sensed the oncoming danger, she couldn't resist going ahead to see what was there. There were many strange markings on the walls, probably of an ancient language. Soon she came to an arched doorway, as she opened the door, something told her to go back, she wasn't meant to be in this place - but what was it? - She was going to turn around, but curiousity got the better of her, the door creaked open and she found herself in a graveyard. She shuddered. She hated these places. As she turned to go, something called to her. A tombstone was surrounded by a misty grey fog. She saw the name Randall Grimm 1860 - 1945. It was as if she was being transported by a portkey back to where she came from and she fell with a rather painful bump, onto the floor.

"Oww." she groaned, as she picked herself up off the floor. Who in the bloodly hell was Randall Grimm?

One level down, in the second room on the left, a messy, raven haired boy was tossing and turning in his sleep and then, without warning, his scar seared with pain, it was as though his head would split open, then, he heard a maniacal laugh as he saw a name on the tombstone, he vision was blurred, so he couldn't see it properly. It was then, that he woke up screaming. Harry Potter keeled over and threw up on the floor. While Harry was moaning,Ron went to get his mum and Professor Lupin, but they were on their way up when they heard the screaming, actually, everyone was.

"What happened here, Ron?" asked Lupin as they lifted Harry back onto the bed.

"I don't know," said Ron, "he was fine when he went to sleep but then, he just started to moan and shake as though he were having a fit, then he started to say a name."

"What was the name?" asked Alex who had parted her way through the crowd.

"I dunno, it sounded weird." Ron shrugged.

"It doesn't matter," she said impatiently, "just say it."

"Grimm." said Ron, "at least that's what it sounded like."

Alex froze. Could it be possible that they had the same dream? If that was the case, she needed to talk to Harry tomorrow about it and she needed to start the Occulemency as soon as possible. A loud retching interrupted her thoughts, as Harry sprayed vomit onto those who were tending to him.

"I think we should get him to St. Mungo's." said Mrs. Weasley as she wiped Harry's head.

"That won't be necessary, Molly." said Dumbledore, as he swept through the door and pressing two long fingers onto Harry's forehead. Soon, Harry came to but he was very weak. He struggled to talk but someone shushed him.

"Alex," said Dumbledore, "go to Professor Snape and he will give you a potion for Harry."

"Where is he, Professor?"

"3rd level library." said Dumbledore as he turned back to Harry. "Now, what is it that you saw in your dream?"

"I don't- I don't know," Harry murmured, "All I could remember was seeing this eerie fog around a tombstone and hearing an evil laugh."

"Did you see the name on the tombstone?"

"No, it was all a blur." Dumbledore looked puzzled for a while, then he said, "Ron?"

"Yes sir?"

"You mentioned that Harry was mumbling a name," he said, "what was it?"

"Grimm, sir."

"That's it?" he nodded. Professor Dumbledore returned to his in depth brooding, not coming out of it until Alex came back with the potion.

He was so in depth in his reading that he didn't hear the door open. He too was wondering what the Dark Lord would want with a book on Necromancy. All he and his fellow Death Eaters knew, was that he wanted the book, but for what reason, no one knew, Sneering, he doubted if half of them knew what it meant.

"Severus?" she called, making him fly several feet into the air.

"How about giving a warning first, Alex." he grunted, as she helped him off of the floor.

"Sorry," she murmured, "Dumbledore sent me for a potion for Harry"

Taking it from him, she looked at the book he was reading, raising an eyebrow, she said, "Found anything?"

"No, these books don't give very much information." he said.

"That's because the books on that stuff were burnt."

"Burnt?"

"Yup, burnt couple of centuries ago, when it was banned," she explained, "the only families that actually kept some information were the Malfoys and I think that the book was destroyed a few years ago when the Ministry raided Malfoy Manor."

"Oh, yes, I remember now."

"Speaking of which," she said, turning to look at him, "how did my darling cousin get out of jail?"

"I don't know," he shrugged, "by the way, don't you have a potion to deliver?"

"Oh!" with that, she disappear with a crack, reappearing in Harry's room and almost falling over and spilling the potion on Professor Dumbledore.

"Sorry Professor," she said quietly, ignoring the sniggering.

"Honestly, Alex, you're becoming like Tonks." said Harry, grinning.

"I take it you're feeling better then?" he nodded, "Well, I'll see you in the morning. G'night everyone." she said before apparating upstairs.

"There you are dear," said Mrs. Weasley, handing the potion to Harry, "have a good night's rest."

With that, everyone followed Mrs. Weasley downstairs, leaving Harry alone with Ron, Hermione and Ginny.

"Hey," said Harry quietly to his 3 friends, "why don't you sleep in me and Ron's room tonight?"

"Sure," said Hermione, "whatever makes you more comfortable."

"What are we going to sleep on?"

"They're sleeping bags under the beds." said Ron, taking them out and handing one each to Ginny and Hermione.

They sat in silence for a while, thinking about what Harry's dream was about. This silent brooding was a deja vu. It was in this same atmosphere, that they were recovering from the shock of easedropping in Alex's conversation with Dumbledore and Snape. It was Ginny who eventually spoke first.

"Did you see her face when Ron was talking about the name Harry mumbled?"

"Yeah," agreed Hermione, "she literally froze."

"I think she knows alot more than she's saying." making Ron rolled his eyes in exasperation.

"Please tell me you don't plan to go easedropping again."

"Nope," said Hermione, with a sly smile, "we're going to search her room."

"Bloody wankers," said Ron angrily, "the lot of ya."

Sighing, Harry said, "When did you lot decide this?"

"Well, when everyone else was hovering around you, Ginny and I decided."

"I think that the two of you are getting to nosy for your own good." said Ron.

"So do I," Harry agreed, "but when do you plan to do this anyway?"

"Well, when she takes you to the hearing tomorrow morning." said Ginny.

"Buy don't you have to go into Diagon Alley?"

"Yes, but we're going just after your hearing," she explained, "Tonks said she has something to do first."

"Oh, well, good luck then, g'night." yawned Harry.

He was at Hogwarts, in the Astronomy Tower, waiting for someone. It was rather windy as he brought his cloak tighter around him.

"Harry?" came a voice out of nowhere. He turned to face her and immediately pulled her into a kiss. She had long, straight, black hair but strange enough, he couldn't see her face. It was as though she was wearing a mask but still he could see himself doing all these things with her. Suddenly she faded away, leaving him to the dreary silence of the night again. He retreated to his thoughts but then, he heard a voice, but this time, someone was shaking him. Did she come back to him?

"Harry?" it said.

"Harry wake up, we have to go." it said again with more persistence.

Suddenly, he felt a very cold substance on him, making him jump. Opening his eyes, he saw Alex standing over him with a wand in her hand, smiling besides herself.

"What did you do that for?" he asked, rather flustered.

"To wake you up," she said, "you have a trial to get to remember?"

"Oh," he said, stretching, "what time is it?"

"'Bout 5.30."

"5.30!" he half-yelled, but Alex shushed him.

"Sorry, but what time's the trial?"

"It's at 8," she whispered, "now go get changed and meet me downstairs, please."

Hastily, Harry dressed and made his way downstairs, where he found Alex sitting at the table with Tonks, Remus and Mrs. Weasley.

"What are all of you doing up?" he asked, zipping up his jacket.

"Well," said Mrs. Weasley setting a dish of sausages on the table, "someone had to make breakfast."

"Not really, " said Tonks, "she insisted, actually."

"You know, Molly," added Alex, reheating her tea with her wand, "we are quite capable of making breakfast."

"Well, that doesn't explain you two." said Harry, looking at Tonks and Remus.

"I just got in from doing my shifts at the Ministry." explained Tonks.

"And I was up listening to my old phonograph." said Remus.

"The Sex Pistols, right?" asked Tonks, he nodded.

"What made you think that he was listening to The Sex Pistols?" asked Harry.

"Cuz it's either them or the Beatles," she said simply, "and all his Beatles records are at his house." But as she said this, she immediately blushed, realising that she'd said too much.

"How d'you know that?" asked Harry curiously.

"Come on, Harry," said Alex, quickly shoving a muffin into his hands, "we have to get going." She dared a glance back at Tonks, who mouthed a thanks. She dragged a hesitant Harry through the door, leaving Mrs. Weasley to deal with Tonks and Remus.

"Got your wand?" she asked, he nodded.

"How are we getting there, anyway?" asked Harry.

"Same way you here." she answered, shortly, fishing in her pocket for her keys. Harry stared at her for a while, before getting into the car. He could admit it, he liked her, but she's his teacher and she couldn't be the girl in the dream, even though they were both the same height and with the same body type, curves included. The girl in the Astronomy Tower couldn't be teacher, she had to be a student, but still, the thought remains. He saw how she looked at him when they first met at his aunt's and uncle's house, could she like him too?

"Aren't you getting in?" she asked.

As soon as she heard the front door close, Hermione woke up both of her friends.

"It's almost 6 in the morning, 'Mione," grumbled Ron, "did you have to wake us up this early?"

"That's because they left, earlier than we expected."

"How do you know that?" asked Ginny, rubbing her eyes.

"Cuz I saw when she woke up Harry," she explained, "now come on!"

Hermione walked as quietly as possible up the stairs, with the half asleep, grumpy, siblings in her wake.

"Which one is her room?" she asked Ginny.

"Third door on the left." she pointed, sleepily.

Hermione tested the door, it was unlocked. She opened the door and smiled, it was rather interesting how muggle-like a pureblood witch could be, especially if she was part 'Black'. She looked around the room, staring at the posters on the walls. The room was covered with them - posters of rock groups like Yellowcard, Maroon 5 and 3 Doors Down - their lead singers made her drool. "Ahh, Brad Arnold and Adam Levine." she thought, staring at the posters as though she was entraced. It seemed as thought Ginny shared her thoughts, she too stared up at the posters.

"Hello!" came the annoyed voice of Ron, snapping them out of their trances, "did we come here to drool or look for something?"

"Sorry." the two girls mutterred.

"What are we looking for anyway?"

"I'm not sure, exactly."

"Not sure?" said an almost bellowing Ron, "Not sure! Then why in the bloody hell are we up here then?"

"Keep your voice down, Ron." scolded Ginny, "let's just search through different parts of the room, to make it easier."

Ginny went over to the neatly stacked shoeboxes in the corner, Hermione went over to the closet and Ron looked through the desk drawers. After a while, discoveries were made.

"Hey, I think I found something." Ginny called, from the corner.

"What?" said Hermione and Ron.

Ginny showed them a shoebox full of letters.

"So what?" said Ron, "they're just letters, Gin."

"No," said Ginny, "there more than that?"

"She's right," said Hermione, thoroughly reading through the letter, "read this."

_#6 Fulham Drive  
West London _

August 23rd, 1994

Dear Alex,  
How are you luv? I'm sorry about yesterday, but mum wanted me to take my little brother for his books. I'll make it up to you though. How about dinner and a movie tomorrow? We'll meet at our usual spot and take it from there. Please send your reply ASAP. By the way, I'm beginning to think that our parents suspect something, haha, go figure, huh, two of the greatest enemies' children are going out with each other, but till tomorrow, be careful.

Love Jay.

After reading the letter once more, Ron looked up at his two companions.

"So," he asked, "who's Jay?"

Ginny sighed while Hermione rolled her eyes, the same thought going through both of their minds.

"Could you be any more dense?" said Ginny irritably.

"Ron," said Hermione impatiently, "think about it, the person who wrote the letter said something about two of the greatest enemies' children dating each other, right?" he nodded. "Good, now, who does that remind you of?" she asked, "think back to the encounter last night."

Ron stared stupidly at the wall for a while, then it finally clicked.

"You're saying, that Angie Walker and Katarina MacCartney's kids dated?"

"Ding ding ding ding ding!" said Ginny sarcastically, "we have a winner."

Ron scowled at his younger sister, while Hermione sniggered at him. "You didn't have to put it that way, Gin, I mean, I'm not stupid." That last comment made Hermione and Ginny snigger uncontrollably, making Ron turn bright red.

"Stop laughing at me." he whined, making them laugh even more.

"Ok, but let's take this with us." said Ginny, still grinning slightly.

"Why?"

"To show it to Harry," said Hermione going to the door, but unfortunately, she heard a slight humming outside. They all froze.

"Mum!" Ron breathed.

"What do we do?"

"HIDE!" whispered Ron frantically as they dove under the bed, with the letter in tow. As they did this, Mrs. Weasley opened the door and walked in with an apron on, her wand in one hand and a broom in the other.

"She's cleaning?" Hermione said to herself in disbelief.

"Apparently." said Ginny.

"But this room is already clean, why does it want anymore cleaning?"

"I totally agree, but I think she's doing something more."

"Like what?"

Ginny nodded towards her mother, who was now waving her wand over the broom, making it disappear. She then looked up and waked towards the boxes in the corner, taking out a bunch of letters and began to read them.

"What is she doing?" asked a anxious voice of Ron.

"She's reading the letters," said Ginny, "Apparently she doesn't trust Alex, either."

"We can't stay under the bed forever." whispered Hermione.

"So how are going to get out of here, then?" asked Ron.

"With this." said Ginny, holding up Harry's Invisibility Cloak.

"How'd you get that?" asked Ron.

"I nicked it from his trunk." she answered, smiling slightly.

With Mrs. Weasley's backed turned, they came out from under the bed and put on the cloak. Gasping loudly, she turned around, her face turning redder than her hair, making the 3 teenagers scuttle hastily outside under the cloak. When they reached the boys' bedroom, they threw off the cloak and fell onto the bed, completely winded.

"Why was she blushing like that?" asked Ron.

"Because of that letter she read." said Ginny, a bit flushed.

"The letter?"

Laughing, she nodded, "The things they wrote to each other, that's enough to make you blush."

"Oh."

Harry Potter stared out of the window at the passers-by, still thinking about his "dream" girl. Occasionally, he glanced over at Alex, wondering if she was that girl. On the other hand, Alex was too, thinking, but not about her dream guy, no, she was past that stage- she had bigger fish to fry at this point. What would happen, she wondered, when she arrived at the home of Katarina MacCartney-Zabini? Would _he_ be there? Would that-excuse the expression- witch, be there with _him_? Thises things she couldn't be bothered with right now, she had to concentrate on getting Harry to the trial without incident. She swung into the nearby parking lot and woke up Harry, who had fallen asleep soon after their journey had begun.

"Are we there already?" he asked groggily.

"Not yet, luv," she answered, putting on different shoes, "we have some walking to do."

Groaning, he cleanded his glasses and took the flask of tea that she handed to him.

"You'll need it," she said, looking at him closely, "trust me."

"No, what I need, is a couple more hours of sleep." he corrected, closing his eyes, once more. Sighing to herself and looking down at her watch, she decided to take matters into her own hands, as desperate times call for desperate measures. She opened the door, wrung Harry's ear and dragged him out of the car, making him cry out in pain. It was cruel but it worked.

"Ouch!" he yelled, "what was that for?"

"To get you out." she replied, rather annoyed, "you do remember what happened the last time you were late, right?". He nodded, while still rubbing his throbbing ear. She locked the car and started to walk, not waiting for Harry, as he struggled to keep up with her, walking in strides as she did. They soon came to the familial telephone box. It seemed rather awkward but still quite amusing for the passers-by, who's minds were really far down in the gutter to see these two young people. She was pulling him to the the booth in haste, as though she couldn't wait to get to a secluded place for a quick shag.

"Some people could be so sick." she scoffed as she dialed the number.

"You should've seen it last year," said Harry, smirking, "it was 6 of us in here."

Alex raised her eyebrow, but said nothing as she waited for the 'operator's voice' to come on. It then did.

"Ministry of Magic, please state your name and your business.

"Umm, Alexandra Walker, here to escort Harry Potter to a trial." she said, warily, then out of nowhere, a tray came out of the wall, holding the badges, Alex shoved one into Harry's hand as the booth descended below ground, shaking as it went. It finally stopped with a bump on the ground floor of the Ministry of Magic. It had definately changed in the past few weeks. The water fountain with the golden statutes, had been repaired and there were certainly, may aurors patrolling the corridors and hallways. It seemed as though everyone had been pulled off their regular jobs to work as _temporary_ aurors and guards- as they'd liked to think - even if their weren't qualified for it. The security had been tightened like the security in a muggle airport. They headed straight towards the guard desk, where your wand was measured, completely ignoring everyone in the line behind them.

"Sorry, miss," said the young guard, "but you have to wait in line."

"You can't be bloody serious!" said Alex, turning to look at the line, "he has a trial to get to!"

"I'm sorry, miss." repeated the guard, 'but rules are rules."

Alex stared at him, sizing him up. He looked like a reasonably good-looking, well-built and nicely toned. There was an extremely sexy young man under those robes, she thought evily.

"Excuse me, uh, Sid, is it?" the guard nodded. She leaned over rather seductively and whispered something in his ear, making him turn redder than blood.

"There you go miss," he said, still a little flushed, letting them through and ignoring the protests of the other patrons in the line. Alex winked at him, making sure that she swayed and moved her hips in a seductive manner, making the guard loosen his necktie. Harry hurried after her.

"What did you say to him?" he laughed.

Grinning, she answered, "Never you mind."

"You didn't threaten him did you?"

"No, no, nothing of the sort." she said, smirking, "now come on."

Without objection, he followed her into the elevator and she pressed the button to get to the Auror Department, where they met a very flustered Kingsley Shakelbolt.

"What's up with you?" she asked him, as she and Harry stepped off the elevator.

"You'd be like this too, if you were working in here," he said rather hotly, "especially if you were working for him."

"Who's 'him'?" asked Harry, but he soon got his answer as he heard the gruff voice of Mad-Eye Moody, sound from behind the closed door, making Kingsley roll his eyes. Dissatisfied when he received no answer, he shuffled out of his office, his face bearing his customary bad attitude and annoyed expression.

"Didn't you hear me calling you?" he barked, barely acknowledging the others' presence.

"Yes," he answered coldly, "but we have visitors, Mad-Eye."

His electric blue eye swirled in its socket, to see Harry and Alex staring at him, with amused expressions.

"Alright, Potter?" he asked Harry, "Walker, what are you doing here?" he spat.

"Top of the morning to you too, Alastor." said Alex, evenly, "but we came here to see Kingsley, not you."

Glaring at her, he retreated to his office in a huff, making sure he slammed the door behind him.

"What's got his knickers in a twist?" asked Alex, as she looked at the poster of the Death Eaters on the wall.

"He's got loads of work to do," explained Kingsley, "he's the head of the department now."

"What happened to Scrimgeour?"

"He got promoted."

"To what?" he shrugged.

"Whatever, look, I want you to do me a favour."

"Name it."

"K, I want you to take Harry to the trial," she said, "I have an important errand to run."

Looking at her watch, she said, "It's about 7 now and the trial is at 8, so you'll have some time to kill."

Harry looked up, rather disappointed, "Where are you going?"

"I have to pick up something, but as I said before, I'll be back before it's over." she said and with a 'pop', she was gone, leaving Harry and Kingsley alone. Both of them stared at each other for a while before speaking.

"So," said Kingsley, breaking the silence, "how've you been?"

"I'm alright, I guess." said Harry, "I think I'm supposed to go and look at my parents' house tomorrow."

"Are you excited?"

"A little, mostly nervous though."

"Ok, then." he said, looking at the clock on the wall, "we should get going."

"Where's the trial going to be?" asked Harry, as they walked to the elevators.

"I think, Courtroom Ten." said Kingsley. Harry gulped.

"Department of Mysteries." came the cool, female voice in the elevator. Since he heard the name, he felt his heart drop into the pit of his stomach. He didn't think that he could go back to this place. The place where his godfather died to save his life. Everyone seemed to be doing that lately. First his dad, his mum, now Sirius. Who would be taken from him next? Sighing quietly, he forced himself to follow Kingsley out of the elevator and down the hall.

Alex pulled up in front of a brown cobblestone house. She sat in the car for a while, thinking of what to say and what to do, if she meant someone that she really didn't want to see. After praying to the Lord, to give her strength to get through this encounter, she got out of the car and walked up the path, towards the house. After ringing the doorbell many times in the last five minutes, she figured no one was home, so she turned to leave; but as she did, the door creaked open, revealing a rather tall aristocratic woman, who looked exactly like her teenaged self, from the pictures in the yearbook She had long, shiny chesnut coloured hair, which was done up in a tight knot at the back of her head, and a face that revealed that she didn't look a day over 21, even though she was 14 years older. The woman stared at her for a moment as though searching for recognition, then smiled sweetly. "I was wondering when you would come, Alexandra." Alex stood frozen to the spot, surveying the woman and fingering the wand in her pocket, waiting for the woman to strike.

"Please, Alex," said the woman, "please come inside."

Still surveying the woman for signs of deceit, she followed her into the house and into the living room. Alex sat in the armchair, closest to the door, while the woman chose a cosy little settee by the fireplace.

"As I was saying before, Alexandra," began the woman, "I was wondering when you would come."

"I've been busy, Ms. MacCartney."

"Mrs. Zabini, please," insisted the woman, with a warm smile. She still had that irish accent.

"Yes, of course, Mrs. Zabini," continued Alex, as though she'd never been interrupted, "I was busy sorting out mother's estate and it was only last night that I heard of these, shall I say, arrangements."

"So, I guess that there's nothing to explain in full." said Katarina. Alex shook her head slowly, as she watched the older woman get up and reach for her wand. At that, Alex's reflexes kicked into full gear, as she too, took out her wand.

"What do you think you're doing?" asked Alex, eyeing the wand in the woman's hand.

"Relax, Walker," said the woman calmly, "I just have to summon the book, that's all." Alex looked at the closely and silently dropped her wand hand, but she could still do wandless magic, and the _Avada Kedavra _wasn't a hard task either. Katarina smiled again and muttered a charm. Suddenly, she heard a rumbling coming from the middle of the floor, which opened up and emitted a blue light. It was like a reversible whirlpool. Instead of the substance going down, it was doing the complete opposite. The room was shaking vigorously now, as pictures were tumbling to the floor and and breaking with a loud crash. Katarina MacCartney-Zabini was standing perfectly still, with her eyes keenly watching the crater in the floor. Alex, on the other hand, was struggling to hold her ground but she kept her eyes on the woman standing across from her. Just because they seemed to ba talking well, Alex still didn't trust her. As quickly as the rumbling came, it ceased and the hole in the floor had been resealed. In its place, was a rather large black and gold book. It didn't look old nor did it looked new, it just looked well kept. Alex looked up at the womna and she nodded as though she read her mind, she bent down and picked it up, inspecting it like a fussy 5 year old would inspect his christmas present. She slowly sat on the chair and stared at the book in her lap. She immediately tried to open it but it wouldn't budge. She tried every spell and charm she could think of to open it, for the paat 10 minutes, but it still wouldn't open. Katarina smiled inwardly at this but she looked on with amusement to see what other things she would do to the book. Completely frustrated, Alex looked up and scowled at the woman, who chuckled beside herself.

"Are you even planning to tell me how to open this book?" she asked irritably.

The woman shook her head, "Not even I know how to open it, my dear." she said, "I assume you have to use advanced black magic to open it, the only two people who knew how to open it, are dead."

"And who are they?"

"Lily Evans-Potter and your mother."

"I thought mum was against all that?"

"Well, obviously she wasn't."

"Are you sure?" said the young girl, coldly.

She sat down and thought about where she would find such a spell. It was interesting to see how her eyebrows furrowed, when she was deep in thought. Katarina looked at the girl in front of her. There was something about her that would make your blood run cold with fear. Maybe it was her eyes, those deep, penetrating dark brown eyes.

"Yes," she continued, "I'm sure."

Smirking, Alex got up and walked around the chair, leaning on its back, staring at the woman, making her squirm uncomfortably in the chair. Shaking her head, Alex smiled a cold twisted smile at the woman. "I know you're lying, Mrs. Zabini, so this is how I figure it." said Alex, softly as she took out her wand. "You either tell me the truth, or I won't use _this_ against you." she finished, twirling the wand in her hand.

"You forget, Miss. Walker," sneered the woman, "I too have a wand, _Expelliarmus!" _

But Alex was too quick for her, she hated to do it, but she did, "_Crucio!" _Katarina fell back and started screaming in pain. Despite the fact that her face showed no emotion, she was shocked at what she did. Shaking the guilt out of her head, she walked over to the fallen woman and knelt down beside her.

"Never underestimate a Black, Mrs. Zabini," she whispered to the woman's twitching face, "Now are you ready to tell me where I can find the spell?"  
She nodded, inwardly seething.

"You can find it in one of your mother's memoirs," she said, in between breaths, "Don't ask me which one, cuz, I don't know."

Alex got up and smiled, "Thank you."

"Listen to me, Walker," said the woman, making Alex turn, "You have to do the spell alone. This piece of magic is very advanced and you can't trust many people these days." Alex nodded and walked towards the door.

"You really do have your mother's temper," said the woman quietly, and as an afterthought, she said, "and your father's arrogance."Alex smiled but continued walking but a familiar voice stopped her.

"Hey, mum." came a voice from the corridor, "whose car is that out front?

"Bloody hell." groaned Alex, closing her eyes, "not here, not now."

"Mum? are you -" he began, but his words seemed to stop flowing when he saw his ex-fiancée the living room with his mother. Their eyes met for a second, they both blushed and looked away. Mrs. Zabini looked on with with curiousity, while Mel, Jay's present fiancée glowered at the two of them.

"Well, hello Alex, what a plesant surprise." he said, looking into her eyes again, bringing back very tense and passionate memories. She looked at him and bit her lip, he was very tall, 6'4 to be exact, with a strong build, muscular everything that you could even imagine. He had sexy grey eyes and black hair, which wasn't very long. Mel, on the other hand, was a blonde bimbo, with the perfect measurements but a zero IQ. She was clinging onto him and glaring at any female who even looked his way.

"It's a surprise for me too." she mumbled, finally finding her tongue.

"How've you been?" he said smiling a smile which he knew that would make her melt. He knew that she still loved him after all that had happened. He looked closely at her, his eyes moving up and down her body. She wore a white pinstripped shirt, black jeans and black leather boots. Her black hair flowing down her back. She had a nice shape too, he thought to himself, but not as good as Mel's. A part of him too, still loved her.

"Well enough," she said quietly as she turned to face his mother, "I think I should leave, thanks alot Mrs. Zabini."

Alex walked quickly past them, ignoring the alluring scent of he ex-fiancé and practically sprinting out to her car. She drove for a few minutes before she broke down, crying. She stayed there for more than 15 minutes.


	9. Trials and Tribulations pt2

Chapter 9: Trials and Tribulations pt.2

Harry walked slowly into the courtroom and saw the cold faces of the Wizengamot staring down at him, as he looked around, he saw 2 familiar faces looking at him, he walked quickly towards them. They were 2 of the 4 heads of houses at Hogwarts, the heads of his own house, Gryffindor and Slytherin, Professors McGonagall and Snape, respectively. He sat between them.

"Good morning, Professors." he said.

"Potter." said Snape, quietly.

"Hello, Harry." said McGonagall, with a small smile.

What was strange, was that he didn't even get as much as a scowl from Professor Snape. He figured it was because McGonagall was there. As he looked around the courtroom, his eyes landed on the chair with the snake-like chains. His mind went back to the trial of Bellatrix and Rodolphus Lestrange, how they pledged their faithfulness to Lord Voldemort, even as they were being shipped off to Azkaban. He was shaken out of his thoughts by McGonagall nudging him and inclining her head to the group of witches and wizards waving merrily at him. They were the ones who voted for his innocence at his hearing last year. He nodded and waved back. Looking over to the left, he saw the brightly coloured robes of Professor Dumbledore, whose eyes twinkled at him, with the same sparkle that was there for the past six years, even if he looked weak. Without warning, he felt his right arm being hoisted upwards by a curious Professor Snape, who stared down at the permanent scar on his hand, which said, '_I must not tell lies.'_ placed there by the bitch woman, Umbridge.

"She did that to you?" he asked, not looking into Harry's eyes.

"Yes," he said quietly, "when I said that Voldemort had returned." Snape nodded and gave back Harry his hand. He continued to stare at the door, which opened abruptly, making everyone turn to look. Two aurors were escorting a squat, toad-like woman, who was looking very disheveled and the centaurs' hoof marks were still imprinted on her face. They put her in the chair with the chains, which immediately tightened themselves around her.

"Delores Umbridge!" boomed a voice from the shadows, "You have been brought here on accounts of illegal uses of Dementors on 2 minors, one of them being a muggle I might add, hospitilising one of the most respected teachers at Hogwarts and brainwashing the students." The last few comments made McGonagall smirk.

"How do you plead?" asked the voice, which Harry recognised as Madam Bones.

"Not guilty!" Umbridge croaked.

"We'll see about that." said a sterned face wizard, with very bushy eyebrows.

"Witnesses for the prosecution are Professors Minerva McGonagall, Severus Snape and Sybil Triolein, Mr. Harry Potter and Messrs. Fred and George Wesley." said Madam Bones.

Harry whipped around to see the 2 red-head twins, grinning widely at Umbridge. They caught Harry's eye and smiled at him.

"Witnesses for the defense." began Madam Bones as she looked at the paper in front of her, "well, I'm sorry Delores, but it seems that no one wants to vouch for you." The people in the courtroom laughed at that comment, even Professor Snape chuckled. Umbridge pursed her lips and scowled at Madam Bones.

"First witness, please." said Madam Bones. The bushy eyebrowed wizard stood up, "The prosecution calls Mr. Harry Potter."

Nervously, Harry stood up and walked towards the bench, past Umbridge, who sneered at him. He sat in the chair and waited. A short wizard with a long nose and big lips, sauntered up to him.

"Is it true, Mr. Potter, that on the night in July, two dementors were sent to attack you, but instead, they ended up putting your muggle cousin in danger?" said the wizard, as though he was running in a race.

"Yes." replied Harry.

"And what happened then?"

"They tried to take my cousin and I fended them off with the Patronus Charm."

"Did you know who sent them to you?"

"No, I thought Vol-, sorry, _He-who-must-not-be-named_ sent them."

"Did this turn out to be true?"

"No, it wasn't."

"How did you find out the truth, after all?"

"Well, when I went to use her fireplace to contact someone."

"Who is 'her'?"

"Delores Umbridge, sir."

"Why did you have to use her fireplace in the first place?"

"Because she was watching all the others, so there wasn't much privacy."

"How do you know this?"

"When I was talking to my godfather, I saw her hand in the fireplace, reaching for his head."

"How do you know it was her?"

"Because she always wore a lot of rings on her fingers."

"And who is your godfather, if you don't mind me asking."

Harry looked at Dumbledore, who nodded for him to continue.  
"His name is Sirius Black, sir."

There was a lot of chattering at this, but not the angry kind, excited chattering, especially among the females.

"Is this _the _Sirius Black of the Marauders of Hogwarts?" asked a black haired witch in the second row. Harry nodded.

Chuckling, she said, "He always used to make everyone laugh, him and James, even in the most depressing situations, they were the only 2 people in the history of Hogwarts, to cheek McGonagall. He was a great shag too, if you don't mind me saying."

Harry grinned at this, as the excited voices began to chatter again.

"The Sex God of Hogwarts, is what we used to call him, the greatest shag of the school, even better than James Potter : The Legend. He was the second greatest and to this day, no one can do better than the 2 of them." said a chestnut-brown haired witch proudly. Harry blushed at this, Snape shook his head, while Dumbledore and McGonagall smirked. Even Madam Bones blushed - apparently she was one of the many, who had a taste of what James Potter and Sirius Black had to offer. When she regained her composure, she banged the gavel, silencing everyone.

"Shall we continue with the trial." it wasn't a question, it was a direct order.

"Now, Mr. Potter, where were we?" asked the long nosed interrogator.

"I think-" he was cut off abruptly by the man. "Oh, never mind that," he said, "let's move on to how you got that scar on your right hand."

Harry slowly retold his story of his outbursts in class, leading to his detentions with the old toad, where he had to write lines using his own blood. This received several gasps from the people in the courtroom, not to mention the cold looks at Umbridge that made her squirm. If only looks could kill.

"Why didn't you mention this to one of your teachers, Mr. Potter?"

"Because I didn't want to cause anymore trouble."

"Did you mention it to anyone at all?"

"Yes, my two best friends, Ron Wesley and Hermione Granger. Hermione gave me some Murtlap essence to soak it in." The little wizard nodded slowly, "May I see your hand?" Harry reluctantly held up his hand to show him.

"That would be all, Mr. Potter, you may step down." Harry returned to his seat between his two teachers and watched the other witnessed give their testimonies, first George Wesley, who had similar detention experiences with the bitch woman, followed by McGonagall who explained her attack, while shooting daggers at Umbridge, then Snape, who was forced into giving Umbridge Veritaserum to use on students, then finally, a tearful Sybill Trelawnly.

"Now, Ms. Triolein, can you explain your treatment from Ms. Umbridge."

"This should be good." whispered McGonagall, so only Harry and Snape could hear, Harry smirked, while Snape looked disgusted at the sight.  
"Treatment? TREATMENT!" she shrieked, making a few flinch, "the woman treated dogs better than she treated people. She walked around the school as though she owned the place. Giving out detentions, as if they were sweets, to any and everyone, especially to the Gryffindors. And she had the nerve to contradict my 'seeing' abilities. I have given accurate predictions, even asked Dumbledore!" she sobbed, as she stepped down from the bench, without being asked to do so.

"Burn in hell, you old bat." she hissed as she passed Umbridge.

Realising that there was no more hope, Delores Umbridge did something that she thought would bring pity. She cried. It was rather pathetic, as most people just snickered. Meanwhile, there was a lot of buzzing in the higher benches, most likely discussing Umbridge's fate. Honestly, everyone hoped she'd rot in Azkaban, as it was the closest thing to hell.

"What do you think is going to happen to her?" Harry asked McGonagall.

"I don't know, Potter, I don't know." she said as she shifted her gaze to the senior members of the Wizengamot, who seemed to have reached a decision.

"Delores Umbridge," said a cold voice, "you have been found guilty on all accounts and-" he was rudely interrupted by the old toad herself.

"Wait!" she squeaked, "I could give you a name of a Death Eater at Hogwarts, I don't think you want your children being taught by one, he could kill every last one of them." she finished, with a twisted smile.

"Really?" Madam Bones sneered, "do tell."

"Severus Snape!" she said rather smugly, making Snape's lip curl.

"Let me make something clear to you, Umbridge," said Madam Bones, "Severus Snape was cleared of all charges, 15 years ago, as a former ministry official, you should know that."

"As I was saying, " continued the same cold voice, "Delores Umbridge, you have been sentenced to 25 years imprisonment at the Azkaban."

The courtroom was in complete silence, everyone looking to see how Umbridge would take this news, but her expression was unmoved. It took 5 seconds for the occupants of the courtroom to surpass their pity of the woman before they started to cheer, while a scowling Umbridge was hauled off to Azkaban, all she did was stare at the people in the courtroom, as though committing their faces to memory until she got her revenge. Then, she pulled back from the aurors and faced Harry.

"You wait, Potter," she said coldly, "you'll meet the same end as your parents."

He watched as they pulled her away, she had that same confidence that Bellatrix Lestrange has, when she had been sentenced to life imprisonment in Azkaban, fifteen years ago.

"Come on, Potter," said McGonagall, impatiently, "I have some work to do."

Harry noticed that she was still walking with a cane and for a woman who was hit with 3 stunning curses at the same time, she still had her frosty attitude. He followed her outside, while nodding to passers-by, to see a puffy-eyed girl, waiting for him.

"Minerva, Severus." She said, nodding to them.

"Alexandra," said McGonagall, silently noting her appearance, "I'm sorry I can't stay to chat but I really must get back to the school."

"It's no problem." She said as McGonagall apparated.

"Did you get it?" Snape whispered, saving no time for formalities, but nevertheless, it wasn't that important.

"Yes." She said shortly, "but we'll discuss this when I come up to the school." Snape nodded and apparated after McGonagall.

"What was that about?" Asked Harry.

"Nothing," she said shortly, "now let's go."

They walked down the corridor in silence, both of them still lost in thought. Harry watched her. She seemed to be in a daze, not really noticing where she was going and she nearly tripped and fell down the stairs if she didn't hold onto the railing. He wondered what kind of errand she had to run.

"Are you all right?" He asked for the fifth time, when she nearly fell.

"I'm fine," she mumbled, "so how was the trial?"

"It was ok, I guess, she was sentenced to 25 years in Azkaban."

"Really?"

"Yeah. She left me with a warning too," he explained, "said I'll meet the same end as my parents, before walking out of there with her nose in the air. She left with the confidence that she would get out soon."

"Come on, you three!" yelled Tonks from the foot of the stairs, "we haven't got all day."

"Sorry." mumbled the three teens as they came downstairs.

Tonks walked over to the fireplace to see how much floo powder was left. Apparently she had come out of her grieving period, because she was back with her spiked pink hair and her usual attire.

"Where's Remus?" asked Hermione, looking around.

"He apparated there, said he'd meet us in Flourish & Blotts." she said distractedly.

"Oh."  
"Alright then, we're flooing to the Leaky Cauldron," said Tonks as she threw the powder into the fire, "you know what to do, keep your wands out by the way."

Ron stepped into the green fire first, gripping his wand very tight in his hand, followed by Hermione, who secretly hated to travel by floo, suppressed her coughs as she inhaled the fumes, grasped onto Ron's hand as they both yelled, "The Leaky Cauldron". They were soon followed by a flushed Ginny and an ashen Tonks.

Harry and Alex walked quickly into an already crowded Leaky Cauldron, where they were met by the toothless innkeeper, Tom. Harry walked up to him, dragging a still dazed Alex, behind him. She'd been that way since they left the Ministry.

"Your friends have come and gone, Mr. Potter, said they'd meet you in Flourish & Blotts at 12.30." said Tom, answered Harry's question before it was asked. He mumbled a quick thanks and pushed past the people, while Alex, with her head still in the clouds, trailed on behind him. They passed through masses of people, no one travelling alone, not after the incident at the Ministry. Some of them only stopping for a few minutes to talk to friends and neighbours.

"Hi, mate." said Dean Thomas quietly, as Harry nodded to him. From Harry's understanding, Dean had been spending the summer at Seamus' house.

"How's it going?"

"Alright, you?"

"Same."

"How's Ginny doing?"

"She's fine."

"Good." Looking over his shoulder, he saw Seamus signalling to him. "I gotta go."

"S'alright," said Harry quietly, "come on Alex, let's go."

They walked on quickly to an empty Flourish and Blotts where they were greeted by a mass of bushy brown hair, rushing towards them.

"Finally!" squealed Hermione, nearly knocking over Harry.

"'Mione, can't breathe."

"Sorry"

"How was the trial?" asked Ron.

"It was alright, the old toad got 25 years."

"That's-" Hermione was rudely cut off by a tall, pale faced boy, with platinum blond hair and cold grey eyes.  
"Well look who it is," he drawled, "Potty, the weasel and the mudblood."

"Watch it, Malfoy." hissed Ginny, as she drew her wand, while the other three drew theirs also, stepping menacingly towards Malfoy, who smirked and stood his ground. Tonks, who was at the back of the shop, with the assistant, turned to see what all the commotion was about.

"I don't remember the rules changing about underaged wizards using magic, so you might as well put those things away." he said simply.

"Try us!" spat Ron.

"Watcha gonna do, huh, _weasel_?" he jeered, "hex me? 'cuz I'd like to see you try."

"Draco, enough." said the firm voice of Narcissa Black-Malfoy, as hse put a hand on her son's shoulder.

"What, you couldn't risk another joining your pathetic excuse of a husband in Azkaban?" said Harry angrily.

"Enough." came an icy voice from behind them.

A rather warm smile was formed on Narcissa's pale face as she saw her 2 family members, standing before her, "Nymphadora, Alexandra."

"Aunt Narcissa." they said stiffly.

"_Aunt_?" said Ron looking rather confused.

"Yes, Ronald, they are family." said Hermione, impatiently.

"Her last name is Walker-Black." hissed Ginny in his ear.

"I'll explain it later, ok." said Alex, still looking a little dazed.

"Alright, Alex?" asked Draco.

"Yeah."

"Come, Draco, we're leaving." said his mother, taking his hand as they swept from the shop. Alex leaned on the wall, sighing, as she stared after them. She was lost in her own thoughts, not noticing the people shaking her, trying to get her attention.

"What?" she snapped, irratably at the shop assistant.

"Here are the books you asked for, miss." he said, shoving three large books into her hands.

"Oh, thanks."

"What are those for?" asked Hermione.

"Well, two of them are for my 6th and 7th year class and the other is for personal research."

"Oh."  
After paying for their things, they walked out of the shop and into the now, half empty street, where they met a cheerful, sandy brown haired wizard, but he was no longer in his shabby attire. It seems that he's using the money, that Sirius left him, to good use.

"Hey, sorry I'm late." he said.

"No problem, nice robes." said Tonks.

"Thanks." he said, his face turning pink.

"Come on, let's go." said Hermione, as she walked forward, but she bumped into her frozen teacher, "Alex?"

Alex was staring at the couple, sitting at a table at Flourean Fortescue's Ice Cream Parlour. The man looked up, meeting her eyes, he winked at her and looked down. She felt the tears forming again, as she walked on quickly, forgetting the calls of _"wait!"_ from the people behind her. Mumbling a spell under her breath, she made her car disappear, only reappearing in the garage of her house, she wasn't really fit to drive. She thought that she would've gotten over her first encounter with Jay and his soon-to-be wife but the second one was just too much to handle. He was actually taunting her, knowing that she can't bear to see them together. With tears streaming down her face, she apparated to Number 12 and stomped up the stairs, not stopping to talk to anyone. She was actually surprised that she apparated without splinching herself in the process.

"Why'd she leave?" asked Harry. Ginny and Ron shrugged, as Hermione kept her eyes fixed on the spot that Alex was staring at, the couple sitting at the ice cream parlour.

"Look, she probably went back to Number 12." said Remus, "let's go."

A tall, hooded man, clad in all black, with a black cane topped with a silver snake, eating it's tail, was also watching the couple at the ice cream parlour and the group of people that walked back to the Leaky Cauldron. His cold eyes were fixed on the girl, that stormed off. With his mind set on what he had to do, he turned and apparated with a 'crack', in the dark, shadowed alley.

_**A.N: srry i took so long, i just didn't feel like typing anything. but now that you've finished reading it, plz review. **_

btw, i hope y'all know wut i mean by 'cheek McGonagall' and also, i'm not going to be updating for a long time, becuz of skool

to:

Jarno: - u have a point there, when i read it over it did look kinda confusing but look at it this way, since harry's parents died when he was a baby, the property couldn't be left to a minor, so it was Sirius' responsibility to look after it, but when harry became of age, Sirius would relinquish the title an stuff, to Harry. It's like a trust find, yes, it's urs, but you can't touch it until you reach a certain age. i hope that makes it clearer to you.**_  
_**

Jarno: - 


	10. Late Night Visits

_well, here's chapter 10, i hope u like it_

Chapter 10:- Late Night Visits

Four ashen faced teenagers flew out of the fireplace at Number 12 and ran up the stairs at top speed, leaving a very winded Mrs. Weasley at the bottom of the stairs, confused.

"Children, wait!" she cried, running up the stairs after them.

Breathing heavily, Harry, Ron, Hermione and Ginny, bounded up the stairs to the 3rd floor,taking two at a time. Harry got to the room first and tried to open the door but it was locked.

"Alex open the door!" he yelled as he pounded on it.

"Why are you shouting?" breathed Mrs. Weasley as she stepped onto the landing.

"When we were in Diagon Alley, Alex saw something, or someone and she just ran away." explained Ginny.

"Why?"

"That's what we're trying to find out."

"Oh, well move over," she said, "_Alohomora!" _

The door swung open, revealing the empty room, all that was left was the bed, the dresser and the closet.

"All her clothes are gone." muttered Hermione.

"So are her trunk and her books." said Ginny, getting up from under the bed.

"Look," said Harry, picking up the piece of parchment that was left on the bed, "I found something."

"It's a letter."

"What does it say?"

_  
To whom it may concern, _

I'm sorry that I had to leave so abruptly,

but something important came up

that I had to take care of.

There's no doubt that you won't see me again though.

Sincerely,  
Alex Walker-Black

"Oh dear," said Mrs. Weasley, "where could she have gone?"

"What happened here, Molly?" asked a disheveled Remus from the doorway.

"She left."

Harry and his friends quickly eased towards the door and down the stairs, heading to the girls' room.

"Well, that was an interesting turn of events, wouldn't you say?" said Ron, as he sat down on the corner of his sister's bed.

"Why she ran away in Diagon Alley is what I want to know." said Ginny, sitting next to her brother.

"It's because of who she saw." said Hermione, quietly.

"What do you mean?"

"She saw a couple sitting at the ice cream parlour, she stared at them and the man stared back at her, then he winked."

"Do you know who it was?" asked Harry.

"Yeah, I think it was her 'ex' with his new girlfriend."

"Then why would she run off if she saw them?"

"The only answer I can come up with, is that she's still in love with him."

"But still..."

"They were really in love, so when they broke-up, it must've really hurt her, see for yourself." she said as she handed him the letter that they found in her room earlier.

Harry scanned through it slowly before allowing himself to speak. "Where did you find this?"

"In her room." said Ginny.

He opened his mouth to speak but Ron cut him off, "Don't ask."

"Well, that explains why she ran." he said, "but before my trial, she said she had to run an errand and when she came back, she was acting strange."

"Strange?"

"Yeah, it was as though she was in a daze, and she nearly fell flat on her face, more than once at that."  
"I still don't get it, what would make her act that way?"

"Maybe it's the thing she had to do," said Harry slowly, "maybe it had some affect on her."

Hermione got up and went to the window, pondering the events of the last two days. As if an idea suddenly came to her, she snapped her fingers and ran through the door.

"Where're you going?" Ron called.

"Library." she yelled.

"Then why is she going upstairs?" asked Ginny.

"There's a library upstairs too."

"Come on, then." said Harry, running after Hermione.

She apparated into the house and trudged up the stairs, pulling her trunk behind her, completely ignoring the shouts of the portraits that she woke up. Her house was a very large victorian house, nearly as large as the Malfoy Manor, in Wiltshire, that she had visited many times. It was in her grandmother's family for generations and very well kept. She didn't know what she would do with such a big house and she was the only person living in it. Finally getting tired of carrying the trunk, she set it down on the landing.

"Dixie!" she yelled.

"Yes, miss." came a squeaky voice of the tiny house elf at her feet.

"Can you please take this trunk to my room and unpack it please," she said, "and send a bottle of scotch to my mother's study."

"Yes, miss," said Dixie, bowing, "and would miss like dinner sent up there?"

"No, I'll let you know when I'm ready to eat." she said to the house-elf, as it disappeared.

Alex continued up the staircase and stepped into the hallway that led to her mother's study. She never thought that she would ever have a day as bad as this. Seeing Jay once a week was fine, but not three times and to top that off, she nearly fell flat on her face, not once, not twice, eight times.

"Dormiens!" she hissed at the door, making it swing open.

The room was dark and gloomy, no one was in it since her mother died. She had forbidden the house-elves to even clean it. With a wave of her wand, the flames in the extinguished fireplace came to life, enlightening the room. Her heels clicked on the stone floor as she made her way towards the desk. She looked at the books on the shelves and sneered. For a woman who wanted nothing to do with the dark arts, her mother had alot of books on the subject, of course, some of them belonged to her grandfather. Her grandmother, on the other hand, never touched the stuff. She was a Ravenclaw after all. Her mother took after her grandfather, who expected his daughter to be in Slytherin, like the rest of the family but God forbid, she was put in Gryffindor. Apparently he didn't mind though, they still got along. Maybe that was why he didn't get along with the rest of his family, preferably, his 'dear' sister-in-law.

Shaking her head, Alex walked over to the desk. Everything was exactly how her mother left it, the exception being the bottle of scotch, with the . Sitting down, she picked up her mother's memoirs, or as she liked to call it, a diary. As she opened it, a letter fell out of it. The writing was small and neat and looking at the date, it was written the summer after 6th year.

_Dear Angie,  
how's your summer? Mine is going ok, except for Petty. She has a new boyfriend you know, his name is Vernon Dursley and he's as fat as a cow. When they're together, she takes it upon herself to torment me even more, asking me why don't I have a boyfriend yet and then she catches herself and says that I probably don't have a boyfriend because of how I look. I tell you, I'm so tempted to hex her into next year, but I don't want to be expelled. Yesterday, I walked in on the two of them, shagging on the floor. The sight was too much for words. I'm surprised that I'm not blind, but I am scared for life. She won't even look at me now, but the expression on her face was just priceless. This one would shock you, but I'm actually writing to your dear friend, James Potter. He wrote me at the beginning of the summer, not to ask me out, but to be friends with me. He said he realised that he's been acting like a conceited arse for the past six years and he called a truce. So we're friends apparently. By the way, I found the spell used to open that book but I'll tell you when I get there, just in case the owl is intercepted. Well, I gotta go, mum is making me go to dinner with Petunia and Vermin, and no that's not a spelling error. _

Much love,  
Lily

Frowning slightly, she put the letter on the desk and continued to look for any sign of the spell. After searching for an hour, she decided to have a drink, she'd get back to this tomorrow. She picked up the bottle and began to pour. After the fifth glass, she realised that she never drank scotch, straight, before. Oh well, she thought, I had a rough day and it's a first time for everything. When it was time for another, the bottle was empty. In a drunken state, she slumped over the desk and fell asleep, thinking about how she met the "love of her life".

_**FLASHBACK  
**City Park, London. _

Saturday, 27th April, 1990

She sat on a bench, quietly reading her book. Her mother had sent her out to get some fresh air, because she never really got outside. She'd recently returned from her Aunt and Uncle's house- well they weren't really her aunt and uncle, they were cousins, but since she was a little girl, she called them Aunt and Uncle- where she had spent a few days for a little vacation, with her mum, at a lovely house in Wiltshire. She would be going back in the next two days simply because she liked it there.

A tall, dark-haired boy disrupted her from her thoughts as he plopped down on the bench next to her, with about ten books in tow, sighing loudly. How he'd managed to carry all of them was beyond her.

Eyeing him with distaste, she said, "Do you mind?"

"No, I don't." he said coldly, as he accidentally knocked over her bag with his set of books.

Scowling, she picked it up and said, "Something got your knickers in a twist?"

"You can say that," he said, glaring at the ground, "I have so much work to do this vacation and I hardly understand what I'm supposed to be doing."

"Maybe I could help." she said, turning to him.

Flushing slightly, he shook his head, "No, you won't understand this kinda stuff."

She looked at one of his books, 'Standard Book of Spells, Grade 3', "Believe me, I could help you." she said pointedly, "you thought I was a muggle, didn't you?"

"You're not?" he said, looking at her book, 'A Tale of Two Cities'

Smirking, she handed him the book, the title being changed from A Tale of Two Cities to Intermediate Transfiguration. Raising an eyebrow, he looked at her, then down at the book.

"How old are you?"

"12, turning 13 next month."

"You're 12 and doing Intermediate Transfiguration? Where do you go, Beauxbatons? Durmstrang, I've never seen you at Hogwarts."

"I would've gone to Durmstrang, but my mum chose to keep me here, so I'm home-schooled."

"Ah, ok."

He looked at his feet, with his brows furrowed as though he was making an important decision. He then picked up his charms book and smiled.

"So, how good are you at charms?"

This memory faded and another one came into view. It was the one when they first kissed.

_She sat on the usual bench, eating a hotdog and reading a book. It was called 'The Ring', an excellent novel by Danielle Steel about a German woman who fell in love with a Jewish man, during Hitler's reign.  
"Hello love." he said as he came up behind her, making her start. _

"Hullo."

"Guess what."

She scowled at him, he knew she disliked this little guessing game of his, she had little patience to begin with, but he loved to taunt her anyway.

"Because of your expert tutoring, I actually passed every subject this year, even McGonagall's shocked," he frowned slightly, "well, almost everything anyway."

"Meaning?"

"Well, I failed Potions."

"Why?"

"I dunno, I guess I got distracted."

"How?"

"Well, I was thinking about you."

She snorted, "Oh, come on."

"I'm serious."

Still laughing, she got up and walked around before returning to the bench.

"Well, then, prove it."

"Prove it?"

"Yes."

He got up and walked towards her. A huge lump formed in her throat as he leaned in and his hand caressed her cheek. She cursed herself, silently for looking into his eyes as he kissed her. She pulled away after a while and stared at him. Her knees suddenly gave out and she fell, but fortunately his reflexes were good, he caught her and sat her down on the bench.

"Oh, merlin." she said quietly.

"Are you alright?"

"Yeah, I'm fine."

"Wow, I didn't know I had that affect on a girl before." he said, grinning.

"Maybe because, all the girls you snogged were in a broom closet," she said irritably, "there's no room to fall."  
Chuckling, he said, "Does that mean we're going out now?"

"Yeah, I guess it does."

Again, this memory faded out and another one came into view. This one being only a week after the previous, took place.

_Angie and Alex Walker-Black were walking quickly through the streets of London, hurrying to get home before the rain began to fall. Not looking to see where she was going, Alex bumped into a tall, olive-skinned boy, who smiled at her, she was just about to say something to him, when she heard a hiss. She looked up to see an auburn haired woman glaring daggers at her mother. Alex felt her mother's hand twitch against her arm, as if she wanted so much to take out her wand. _

"Mama?" she said softly, to remind her mother that she was still there.

"Come along, dear," said Angie, coldly, "we don't associate with such filth!"

"Young Mistress!" squeaked a voice from behind her, shaking her slumped form.

"Hmm?"

"Young Mistress!"

"Oh, hell, what is it?"

"Twinkle comes to tell Young Mistress that she has a visitor."

"Who is it?" she asked, rising from her chair and fixing her clothes.

"Twinkle doesn't know."

"Hmm, well, tell whoever it is that I'll be down in a minute," she said, pulling on her black robes and pocketing her wand, "and make some tea, will you."

"Yes, miss." said the elf as she bowed and disappeared.

Sighing, she put the diary into a drawer and locked it and walked out of the study, being careful to lock it as she did. Walking quickly down the stairs, wondering who would be calling at the house at this time. She seemed to have forgotten her thoughts as she entered the parlour, in which stood a tall, hooded man.

"May I help you?" she asked, as she swept into the room, her black robes billowing behind her.

"Yes, you could." drawled the man, as he pulled down his hood and smirked.

Crossing her arms over her chest, she stared warily at him. If she looked surprised to see him, she didn't show it. They stared at each other for what seemed like an eternity, wordlessly, she got up and went into the platinum blond haired man's arms, crying. He rocked her as though she was a baby, to cease the flow of tears and to make her calm down. From the doorway, the servants and house-elves smiled at the scene. The man that was holding their young mistress wasn't a cold man as everyone said he was, well, at least not to people he was familiar with. Besides, when it came to Alex and her mother, and his own family for that matter, he wasn't that cruel. His cold grey eyes seemed to soften whenever he saw them.

"You've been drinking." he said quietly.

"I had a bad day," she said stiffly, "I'm sure you've had your share of those."

"Why did you run?"

"I couldn't face him, for the second time in the same day," she said, rubbing her eyes and looking up at him, "but how did you know that?"

"I saw you in Diagon Alley with the blood-traitors and the half-breeds, not to mention the mudbloods." he said, smiling slightly.

"You're a cold man, you know."

Looking down at their current position, he gave her a handcerchief and a sardonic smile, "Oh, I wouldn't say that."

She snorted but gave no retort.

"You shouldn't let him get to you, I'm surprised that you didn't splinch yourself, apparating back home."

"I can't help it, everytime I see that slut with him, I can't help but think that, I should be in her place."

"I thought you said you didn't feel that way anymore."

"That was when you gave me my first bottle of firewhiskey, I was delusional and to make things worst, their getting married."

"Married? How do you know?"

"He told me."

"When?"

"I was having breakfast at an 'all you can eat' place, when he came up to me and said, he's getting married." she said sighing, "and then it got worse when I saw him again."

He made a noise, that sounded like a snort.

"What?"

"Nothing." he said, innocently.

She rose slowly and looked at him, with eyebrows raised, "Seriously, what?"  
"Nothing, love but please, continue."

"Well, I saw him again."

"And?"

"When I was sorting out mum's will, I had to go over to his house for some stuff, well, I really went to see his mother."

"What happened next?"

"Well, I had gotten the things and as I was leaving, he came in with the bimbo, she was literally attached to him," she said, with her voice breaking, "and when we looked at each other, the night that...that..."

She couldn't finish the sentence. It was too painful. Sighing, she snuggled into the man's arms.

"I heard you saw your aunt and your cousin today." he said, changing the subject.

She nodded, slowly, "Yes, I prevented an altercation between, Draco and Harry and his friends."

"I also heard that you're teaching Defense Against the Dark Arts."

"Who told you that?"

"Who do you think?"

"Ah."

"Well good luck." he said, as he got up, straightening his robes.

"Why is everyone saying that?"

"The job's cursed, my dear," he said, his lips curling, "the teachers either died mysteriously, or got themselves in a _predicament." _

When she didn't answer him, he walked towards her and lifted her chin to his face.

"Don't worry, love, you'll get through it."

"What makes you so sure?"

"I always know," he said tapping his forehead, "so how about you come around for dinner tomorrow night, then we'll practice your fencing after."

"Sounds great."

"Good, I'll talk you later then."

"You're going so soon?"  
"Yes, I promised my wife that I'll be home in time for dinner." he said, not facing her.

"Oh." she said quietly, "you're not as cold as people say you are you know."

Smiling beside himself, he kept walking.

"Uncle Lucius?" she called, making him whirl around, his black robes swirling around him.

"Yes?"

"Thank you for always being there for me."

"Your welcome, my dear." he said softly.

Hermione pushed open the doors of the library and rushed towards the nearest shelf.

"What exactly are you looking for?" gasped a breathless Harry.

"Anything that can tell me about Jay's parentage and the book that Voldemort's after."

"What for?" whined Ron, "we already know that he's Katarina MacCartney's son."

"He does have a father, you know."

Harry walked over to a nearby desk and sat down, it had been a really long day. His eyes flicked across the desk and his gaze landing on a book - 'Pureblooded Families of the Dark Ages'.

"Maybe this should help you." he called to the others.

"I wonder if we're in here." Ron mused.

Hermione ran a finger down the index page, reading the family names out loud, "There's the Avery's, the Black's, the Bones', the Crabbe's, Goyle's, Lestrange's, Longbottom's, Macnair's, Malfoy's, Nott's, Parkinson's-"

"But these are only dark families," said Harry, taking the book from Hermione.

"Not all of them," she said, snatching it back, "just let me finish, the Parkinson's, the Potter's- see Harry, your family's in here."

Harry took the book from Hermione and turned the pages quickly, to see a picture of his family, grinning up at him. Two men with untidy black hair, one of them having some grey in it. An elderly looking woman with hazel eyes, smiling sweetly into the camera and a small young pregnant woman with fiery red hair and green eyes just like his. This was probably taken months after they had gotten out of Hogwarts.

"Wicked," said Ron, "now let's see if we're in here, Gin?"

"Sorry, Ron, you're not," said Hermione.  
"How do you know?" he said, taking tho book away from her.

"Look, the list goes from Potter, Prewett, Rookwood, Walker and lastly, Zabini."

"Well at least mum's family is in there."

"What page is The Walker Family?"

"Ninety-Seven."

"Here it is," said Ginny, "The Walker Family is one of the oldest and most prestigious pureblooded families in the United Kingdom. Their roots could be traced back to the late 14th century, years before any of the wizarding schools were established. They had intermarriage pairings with other families throughout the years, the most recent being with Christian Black. The pairing of Christian Black and Sarafina Walker was one of the biggest events of the century, the joining together of the houses of Slytherin and Ravenclaw. This was, unfortunately frowned upon, by members of the respective families. Ironically, the Walker ancestors were some of the co-founders of the dark arts, the very same thing that they 'claim' that they are profoundly against. Especially in the branch of Ne-

"Is that all?" asked Ginny.

"Yeah, the page is torn out."

"Well, obviously someone didn't want people to see it."

"Hey, where's Harry?"

"Right here." said Harry coming up behind them with a book in his hand.

"Where'd you go?"

"I went looking for something that might help us," he answered, "here."

"19th Century Dark Arts." said Hermione as she examined the book.

It was a thick, green book, with silver lining, and well preserved, in spite of it's age. She opened the book to find it bare, yes, there were pages but nothing was written on it.

"That's funny." mused Hermione, "there's nothing written on it, making it exactly like-

"Tom Riddle's Diary." said Harry and Ginny.

The door creaked slightly, making all of them turn.

"Am I interrupting something?" came the calm voice of Remus Lupin.

"No, not at all." said Hermione quickly closing the book and putting it on the table with the others.  
"Oh, well you are wanted down in the kitchen."

"Who?"

"All of you."

As they filed out of the room, Remus spotted a piece of parchment on the floor, unfortunately for him, Harry saw it too and he snatched up and stored it in his pocket, just as his former teacher was reaching for it.

"It's what I was writing on, you know, research for new defense spells for the DA," said Harry nervously as he walked quickly out of the room, "can't let Hermione do all the work."

Remus stared after him and shook his head, the interesting thing about it was that there was nothing written on it. Well, not as far as he could see anyway. He walked over to the desk and looked at the book and smirked at the title, it was customary for a pureblooded family like the Blacks to have a book like this in the house. He flipped it open and his eyes widened. He thought he wasn't seeing right, but there it was in bold italics.

**_Property of the Walker-Black Family Library_**

'Strange', he thought, #12 Grimmauld Place was in London and Walker Estate was all the way in Manchester. After the fight, Mrs. Black literally purified the house of anything that contained the Walker-Black Family Crest, so, what was this book doing here?

Someone burst through the door, making him start, but it was only Hermione.

"Sorry, I picked up the wrong book," she said, smiling, as she exchanged a book with the one Remus was previously looking at and also picking up another one.

"See you later, Professor."

He nodded as she exited the room. 'Strange.'

Albus Dumbledore sat staring into the fire, looking slightly battered. At this point, the wizarding world was in trouble, especially since Voldemort's return, things are worse than they were sixteen years ago. And then, there's the prophecy. Sighing loudly, he put his head in his hands but footsteps echoing in the stairwell, made him turn.

"You wanted to see us, Professor?" asked Ginny, looking puzzled.

"Yes," he said warily, "on Thursday, you will be going to Professor Walker-Black's house for defensive training and for Harry, you will be starting your Occulemency lessons, as well. You will be staying until the day before you return to Hogwarts."

Harry glanced over his shoulder to see Hermione and Ginny exchange wicked glances.  
"Also, " he continued, "Mr. Potter, you will be escorted to your family's home, tomorrow."

"Can we go too, sir?" piped Ron.

"Why certainly, Mr. Weasley," he replied, "now, if you will excuse me, I have some business to attend to, back at the school."

With a nod, he vanished.

While the others were busy discussing their plans for the next few days, Harry's thoughts drifted back to last night and wondered what was in store for him next. He felt a cold hand on his shoulder and turned.

"Is anything wrong?" asked Hermione.

Looking at her solemnly, he nodded, "There's something I have to tell you."


	11. Reflections

Chapter 11: - Reflections

The rain had now begun to fall. The dark, murky sky made 4.30 in the afternoon, look like 8.30 at night. A young man lay in bed, staring at the ceiling, but instead of seeing pure white, he saw her smiling face staring back at him. These last few days have definitely taken there toll on him. All he could think about was her, how long has it been since he caressed her cheek, or kissed her?

Shaking those thoughts from his head, he sat up, abruptly, making the covers slip down to his bare waist. Looking over at the blond woman, sleeping beside him, he frowned and wondered if he really loved her, or was he lying, to her and to himself. Silently, he got out of bed, pulled on his robes and walked out of the room.

The rain was falling heavily now, as he made his way upstairs, to what he called his 'quiet place'. It was otherwise known as the attic and no one really ventured up there anymore, just him. The only person, he ever took up there was 'her'. It was a spacious room, with obsidian floor tiles; it had cobwebs hanging from the walls since he hadn't been up there in a while. Even the fireplace had become blackened with soot. He hadn't found the time to clean it. As a matter of fact, he hadn't found the time to do anything lately. He was always out with his soon-to-be wife, making wedding plans or meeting some of her friends. He couldn't remember the last time he'd had a decent chat with his mum, over tea, or even a talk about Quidditch with his dad.

Sighing, he sat down at his desk and took his pensieve out of the top draw. He had an important meeting later and had to clear his mind to hide anything that would be deemed as a weakness, especially her.

Raising his wand to his forehead, he pulled some silvery fluid from his mind and placed it in the pensieve. Memories of past birthdays, his first day at Hogwarts, being sorted into Ravenclaw, graduation...but he stopped at the last happy memory, the night he proposed to her, no, not his present fiancée, his ex-girlfriend. All this constant thinking about her, made him come to a quite obvious realisation, that he, Jason MacCartney, was still in love with...

...Alexandra Walker-Black sat by the window in her room, watching the rain pound against the glass. It had been raining for over two hours now. Pulling her knees to her chin, she turned and stared into the blazing fireplace. A lot of things were on her mind lately, especially the night that he proposed, not knowing that miles away, he was thinking about the same thing.

She quitely closed the door and dropped down on her bed, her training session went a bit odd. Today, she was practising hexes, a bit of a review of the past few weeks, then, she went upstairs to study for an upcoming test on transfiguration. Her mum seemed extremely nervous today, she was supposed to be brilliant and blocking curses but she was hexed 5 times, before coming to her senses and fighting back. Sighing, she got up and walked over to the bureau when she noticed a letter on the floor. It was from Jay.

Hey,

I got something important to show you, come around 8. Mum and Dad aren't home and Blaise is with friends.

Jay

Frowning, she put the letter on the bed. 'What's so important that I must see him now? In this weather?'

Giving it a second thought, she walked towards the open window and climbed down - she couldn't drive without her mother not realising the absence of her car, the consequences would be severe. 'This better be important.'

She apparated into the woods near his house and unfortunately, she had to sprint the rest of the way, because she forgot her umbrella. Breathing heavily, she went to knock on the door, but it swung open. She stepped inside as the door clicked behind her. The house was dark now and the only light that was illuminating the interior, lit by the lightning flashing. She walked over to the adjacent wall, in the living room and flicked a light switch. It didn't work.

"Great!" she muttered as she lit her wand.

"Hello?" she called, "is anyone here?"

She walked into the kitchen and looked through the glass door. As the lightning flashed, something caught her attention. It looked like the silhouette of a man. Gripping her wand, she went outside to investigate, but a strong arm around her waist made her stop. She felt a warm breath at the back of her neck, sending shivers down her spine.

"Lexie." whispered a voice, as the arm pulled her closer to the source, making her feel more fearful than she already was. Closing her eyes, she kept the vice grip on her wand.

'If they wanted to kill me, they would've done so by now.'

The arm released her now and she slowly turned around to face the owner of the arm but she saw no one. Sighing, she leaned against the wall and closed her eyes, again.

"What a night," she said out loud, "first he asked me to come here and he's nowhere to be found and on top of that, I'm soaked."

Fuming, she made her way into the house and up the stairs to find a towel. The gas lamps on the walls were lit, but the house was still quite dark, she assumed that they came on automatically, since no one was at home. She had never been in this part of the house before; she'd mostly been downstairs, tutoring Jay. As she looked down, she noticed something red on the floor. Squatting to get a closer look, she discovered that it was a trail of petals, red and white rose petals to be exact. Smiling to herself, she followed them until she reached a door at the end of the first-floor landing. She put her hand on the knob but hesitated, 'Of course, it could be a trap' she thought, ' but then again, the wizarding community completely ignored her family, even though they co-owned some companies'. Shrugging, she opened the door, to see dozens of rose petals falling from the ceiling, but it's source was unknown and in the midst of it all, was a smiling Jay.

Jay was brought back to the present with his fiancée, shrieking for him, one floor below, rolling his eyes, he put away the pensieve and stalked through the door. While miles away, Alex was interrupted by a hurried knock on the door.

"Come in." she called.

The head house-elf, Dixie, scurried through the door, holding a newspaper.

"What's wrong?"

"Sorry to disturb you, Mistress, but this has just been delivered for you."

Alex took the item out of the elf's hand, her brows furrowed.

"We've never gotten the Evening Prophet before, why now?" she said aloud.

She opened the newspaper and as she read the front page, she smiled.

At the same time, in Number 12, a tired Arthur Weasley sat down after a rough day at work, to have some tea and read his paper. He rocked back in his chair, brought his cup up to his lips and began to read. A short time afterwards, all of the occupants of Number 12 heard him scream as he fell out of the chair and scalding hot tea spilled into his lap.

"What was that?" Mrs. Weasley asked Remus and Tonks, who both shrugged at rushed out of the parlour.

This scream also jostled the twins who were testing their latest experiments.

"What in Merlin was that?" was the look Fred gave to his brother as they too rushed downstairs.

Also, up in the boys' bedroom, Harry Potter was interrupted from telling his friends the thing that plagued him for the entire summer.

"Bloody hell!" said Ron, "what was that?"

They all ran to the kitchen to see a dishealved Mr. Weasley on the floor  
"Arthur, what happened?" said Molly, rushing to help her husband.

"Have you seen the Prophet?" he said thrusting it at her.

As she read, her eyes widened, while the others gathered around her, trying to see what the fuss was about.

LORD MALFOY RELEASED  
Hogwarts School Governor, Lucius .D. Malfoy, was offically released from Azkaban today. Mr. Malfoy, who had been accused of being the right-hand man of He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named, was acquitted by the Wizengamot. When asked why, the newly reinstated Chief Warlock, Albus Dumbledore gave no comment. On the other hand, an overwhelmed Lucius Malfoy said, "If you think this is a shock for you, you have no idea how it feels for me." Anxious to get back home, he rushed away, giving no further comment. Sources say that he will be back to work Tomorrow.

Above this was a picture of Lucius Malfoy before he was incarcerated.

"They can't be serious." mumbled Hermione.

"They're actually letting that monster out on the streets?" said a fearful Mrs. Weasley.

"We caught him red-handed," said Mr. Weasley, fuming, "we caught Lucius Malfoy red-handed and they let him go!"

"Look, on a brighter note, Fudge was sacked." said Tonks.

"How do you know?"

"This afternoon, Scrimegour strutted into the office today with a smug look on his face, he stood up on a desk and said he had an announcement." said Tonks, bitterly, "he told us that Mad-Eye will be the Head of the Department, while he would be permanently fulfilling other duties. We all stood there staring at him, wondering why he couldn't send a memo and then he said, 'well, aren't you going to applaud your new minister of magic?' "

"Well why are you so bitter then?" asked Hermione.

"Do you know what's having that old coot, running the department?" said Tonks, "he'd make us insane."

Hermione took Harry's arm and pulled him into the hall.

"What?" he grumbled.

"What were you going to tell me?"

"I'll tell you later." he turned to go into the kitchen but she held him back.

"No, Harry, tell me now."

"Herm-

"Harry, I'm worried about you, especially after last night, you've got to tell me what's on your mind."

"I know and I'm sorry." he stared at the wall, for what seemed to be a long time before speaking again, "I'll tell you what, you go get the others and meet me upstairs."

Nodding, Hermione turned and walked away as Harry trudged upstairs.

It was coming around to midnight, as Alex walked out of her room after hours of silent brooding. With the book in her hand, she walked to her mother's study, well it was hers now. She walked towards the fireplace and took a container from the mantelpiece. Stopping, she smiled at the pictures there, with her and her mother at a soccer game at Old Trafford and another one with her and her godfather at his house. She took a pinch of the powder and threw it into the fireplace.

"The Headmaster's Office, Hogwarts." she said, only sticking her head in the fire.

Soon enough, Dumbledore's office came into view.

"Good evening, Headmaster," she said curtly, "I hope I didn't disturb you."

"It's quite alright, Professor Walker, what can I do for you?"

Wordlessly, she showed him the book.

"Ah, yes, I assume you know how to destroy it."

"I would have to look for a spell."

"Well, maybe I could assi-

"No, that won't be necessary."

Dumbledore frowned, "Why?"

"Because I was told to do it alone."

He nodded. "Well, if that is all,"

"No, actually, I would like the lesson plans for first to seventh year students."

"That would be mailed to you tomorrow."

"Thank you, Professor." as she moved her head out of the fire.

She sat at the desk staring at the objects in front of her. At this point, there were only three lingering questions on her mind.

1. What do I do with this book?  
2. Who was Randall Grimm?  
3. Are the two connected somehow?

First off, she figured that she'll start with finding out who was Mr. Grimm. He shouldn't be very hard to find if she knew where to look, right? Also, she wondered if Harry had the same dreams as she did. Probably his were more in depth, Dumbledore told her of Voldemort's little mind games which was why the Occulmency was so important. She remembered the look on the old man's face when he heard the name that Harry mumbled during his nightmare. He knew more than he was letting on, but then again, that's always the case with him. This tactic certainly did more harm than good.

Picking up some parchment and a quill, she quickly made her way downstairs to her Grandfather's study. The books in there would hopefully give her results. The kind of books that were in the library certainly wouldn't help her, since her mum had to fill it with muggle type books with her meddling muggle friends. Magical books would look too suspicious. Chuckling to herself, she doubted if any of the cows knew how to read. Her grandfather, on the other hand, had an interesting selection of books, but she was forbidden to touch them, further more go into his study, even when he died, her mother forbade it. As she remembered, the last person who went down there unwelcome was nearly killed. But now, both of them were dead and the house was hers, even though her grandmother was alive.

Christian Black's study was located under the kitchen, it occupied the entire basement actually, and it hadn't been used for many years now. Of course, her grandmother never ventured down there but her mum loved to go, she even had some dark arts books of her own and she was someone who swore the family had nothing to do with this sort of magic. She walked down the stairs of the kitchen and was swallowed by the dark.

"Lumos." she muttered.

The farther she walked, the lower the temperature dropped, luckily, she was wearing robes and a cloak. She soon came upon a large steel door bearing the Black Family Crest. As she said the password, all of the torches on the walls became lit and the door swung open. The walls were decorated with what looked like gold writing, when she looked closer, she saw the family tree, linking the families Walker, Black and Malfoy. But it looked different; it did not look like the one in the parlour. She decided that she'll ask about it later.

"Harry?" asked Ginny worriedly, "what is it that you wanted to tell us?"

Harry looked up and stared at his friends, there was so much to tell them, so much to say, but he didn't know how. He felt someone touch his shoulder, turning; he saw Ron's concerned face looking down at him.

"Are you alright, mate?"

Nodding, he slowly retold what happened in Dumbledore's office, not leaving out anything. At the end, he sat on the floor staring at the same spot on the carpet, waiting for them to digest what he said, as the same words replayed in his head.

"Neither can live as the other survives." echoed Ron.

"Meaning that-"

"Either you kill him or he kills you." said Ginny from the window.

None of them spoke for a long time, just staring at the wall.

"What are you going to do, Harry?" asked Ron.

Finally looking up, Harry sighed.

"I don't know."

It was nearly six in the morning when Alex finally came out of the study. Unfortunately, her attempts were futile, she's found a few things but they were irrelevant. When she looked in to the records, and rechecked the shelves, she realised that there was a book missing. It was time she had a talk with her mother and grandfather. In the meantime, she had to get dressed. She walked up to the kitchen to find all the house elves and the human servants standing around idling.

"What's wrong with all of you?"

Dixie, the head house-elf stepped forward.

"We has nothing to do, we can't cook because Young Mistress hasn't eaten anything since your mother died."

The rest of the staff nodded.

"Alright, I'm sorry, but I've been busy," she stopped, completely shocked at what she said, her godfather would have died, "to make you happy, I would like some breakfast, but I won't be here for the rest of the day."

She walked towards the door and turned, "Also, I am expecting four house guests tomorrow night, so I want you to prepare four rooms on the second floor."

Upstairs in her room, she found a suitcase on her bed, it was already packed. On top of it, were two letters. The first and the heaviest, bearing the Hogwarts School Crest and the other one bearing the Malfoy Family Crest. She opened that one first and recognising the cursive writing of her Aunt Narcissa.

Alexandra,  
Please bring a gown and a nice set of dress robes for tonight. I'm having a little surprise party for your Uncle Lucius. If you don't have any, I'll be happy to take you shopping.

N.M

Looking at a picture on her desk, she smiled and picked up a quill.

Aunt Narcissa,  
Don't worry, I have something.

Alex.

She handed the letter to a waiting owl and went downstairs to breakfast.

Harry woke up with a start, but not because of a dream. Turning over on his side, he looked at the clock - 6.30 am. It was the first time he slept this well in months. He looked across at Ron, who was still asleep, with a crooked smile on his face.

He must be thinking about Hermione.

Smiling slightly, he crept downstairs towards the kitchen when he heard voices. It sounded like Dumbledore and McGonagall.

"Albus, are you sure?"

"Very sure, Minerva, very sure."

Minerva McGonagall pursed her lips. There were many thins that she berated Dumbledore for, inwardly of course, and this particular situation was one of them.

"But we already have-"

"I know."

"So why do you need another one?"

"Because this particular one is on the inside."

"Hmph, well I should be getting back to the school." she huffed away, not waiting for his reply.

Hearing footsteps, Harry ducked back upstairs and waited until it was clear, then he walked quietly into the kitchen.

"Mornin'"

"Good morning, Harry, I'm glad you're awake because we'll be leaving in an hour." Harry stared at him for a bit then it finally clicked.

"So you're taking us to Godric's Hollow?"

"Yes, I'm looking forward to it since I haven't been there in years."

Harry nodded and took a cup of tea from the counter as silence consumed them.

"Remus?"

"Hmm?"

"Can I ask you a question?"

"You already did."

"Well, why do you think Mr. Malfoy was released?"

He sipped his coffee and thought quietly for a while.

"I don't know."

Seeming satisfied, he went upstairs to wake the others.

She apparated in the forest, on the grounds of the Malfoy Manor and walked the remaining mile up to the house. If there was anyone in the wizarding world who had everything and more, it would be the Malfoys'. The main house was a large Jacobean design, built of stone. It probably dated back to the 16th Century. To the rear of the house a courtyard which led into the gardens and to the left of the gardens, were the stables. After which, were acres of lush green grass, a lake, and last but not least, a Quidditch pitch. Of course, not everyone could simply apparate onto the grounds, the house was guarded by several charms, some even more powerful than the ones at Hogwarts. Persons in positions of trust were allowed to apparate onto the grounds, while others had to be welcomed, by the master and mistress of the house.

Alex walked up to the door, with her trunk hovering behind her and rang the doorbell. The butler answered the door.

"Good morning," he said in a dull tone, "how may I help you?"

"Good morning, Handel."

"Why, Miss Walker, I haven't seen you in ages, how are you?"

"Could've been better."

"Suppose we all feel that way," he said airily, "do come in."

"Where is everyone?"

"Mr and Mrs Malfoy are at breakfast and Young Master Malfoy is still in his room. He should be down any minute."

Echoing footsteps on the stairs paused their conversation.

"Well I guess he's here." murmured Alex.

"Alex, you're here." he said, embracing her in a tight hug.

"Hey, Drake."

"Handel, will you take her bags upstairs, please?" he nodded to the butler, as he took Alex's hand and dragged her towards the dining room.

"What's the rush?"

"I'm just glad you're here, that's all, I mean, Mum is always busy and it's hopeless talking to Father. Since he got back, he's locked himself in his study. At least now I'll have someone to talk to."

"Ah."

"Good morning mother, father." he said as he opened the door.

"Hello Aunt Narcissa, Uncle Lucius." Alex nodded.

Lucius only mumbled from behind his paper and Narcissa smiled.

"Back to his old ways, I see." Alex mumbled to Draco, who smirked.

"Ron, Ginny," yelled Hermione, "it's time to go!"

"We're coming."

Hermione turned to look for Harry and saw him standing by the window. She touched his shoulder, "Are you alright."

"I'm fine." he said without looking at her.

"Well come on then, we have to go."

Sighing, Harry turned and followed Hermione into the kitchen to find the others there waiting for him.

"Now that Harry's here, we could go." Remus held out an old newspaper and looked at everyone, "well, you know what to do, touch it."

As soon as Harry touched it, he felt the familiar tugging feeling at his navel as he was jerked forward. A rew seconds later, he landed, painfully, in a field of dry grass, in what seemed to be an abandoned area. Getting up, he looked around him for the others, who landed a few feet away.

"Everyone ok?" asked Remus, dusting off his coat, they nodded.

"Alright then, let's go."

Silently, they walked up the stone pathway into the village. There were quite a few houses located there, along with a few shops, but none appeared to be open as yet. Harry walked behind everyone, taking in as much as he could. Many of the houses needed repairing - the roofs were about to cave in, the windows were broken and some of the doors were rotted. It appeared that no one has lived here for years. Up ahead, Remus turned and looked at them.

"Just to let you know," he began, "this isn't Godric's Hollow."

Hermione stopped walking, "Then where are we?"

"We're in the village just outside it." He too stopped, just outside a little house, which seemed to be in better condition than the others.

"Why've you stopped?" asked Ron.

"To wait for someone."

"Who, Dumbledore?"

"No."

"Then, who?"

Before he could answer that question, the door creaked open and out came an eccentric, dumpy, little old man, with a shock of white hair so long that it made Dumbledore's look like cut grass. They watched with amusement as he trudged towards them, while trying not to trip over the beard at the same time. He wore old black robes and dragon hide boots.

" 'ello!" he said.

"Harry, Ron, Hermione, Ginny, let me introduce to you, the former caretaker of the Potter Estate, Earl Flynn."

"Hello Mr. Flynn." said Ginny.

The little old man squinted, "Aren't you supposed to be dead?"

"That's just rude." murmured Ron.

"That's Ginny Weasley, Mr. Flynn not Lily Potter." said Remus calmly.

"Oh, my apologises, Miss. Weasley, the eyes aren't that good you see." he explained, "now, you're Mr. Lupin, right?"

Remus nodded.

"Well, come on then."

They walked on for a while, looking at all the houses which seemed to have been boarded up in a hurry.

"Are we in Godric's Hollow, sir?" Ginny asked.

"Yes and i s'pose yur wondering where everyone else is?"

"Well-

"I think it started a few days ago, up at the old house."

"You mean the Potter Mansion?" said Harry.

"Yeh, there were tremors you see."

"Tremors?"

"Yup, shook the whole place. But before that, they thought they heard chanting."

"Chanting?"

"Yeah, they thought it was some sort o' summoning spell."

"What else happened?"

"The people got scared and to make things worse, the whole house was filled with blue light, with a lot of fog y'know."

"You can't be serious!" Hermione exclaimed.

"I bloody well am!" said the old man, "I saw the lights m'self. Everyone thought it was weird, since the occupants of the house were dead for fifteen years. So I went up to the house, with a couple of the men and it was just as Dumbledore left it."

"No damages?"

"None."

"But what about the other houses?"

"That's the weird part, there were no damages to them either, as a matter of fact, no one down here felt it."

"So that's what made everyone leave? But this is the magical world, weird things are supposed to happen."

"Yes, but these different times." the old man took out an old cricket ball from his pocket and held it out.

"What is that for?" asked Ron.

"Well, y'don't expect to walk up there, now do you." he nodded to the large white house on the hill.

As they touched it, the familiar tugging feeling came again.

The rain was coming again as she stood on the balcony of the room. In her opinion, it was ideal weather for reflecting - thinking of all the mistakes that were made and how they could've been avoided.  
With a wave of her hand, the balcony doors closed behind her. She sat on the floor as the rain began to let the tears flow from months of frustration. She liked it better this way since no one could tell that she was crying. She felt so lost now, without her mum, without Jay. She didn't have any friends...well, friends her age. Her only friend, whom she considered her best friend, was her 41 year old godfather, an infamous, sadistic death eater. She remembered when she used to go to the park and watch everyone else, just having fun with their friends, not having a care in the world. She scowled then jumped, when she heard a cold voice.

"You're going to catch a cold, sitting out here in the rain." Lucius Malfoy stood in the doorway staring at her.

**A.N: - it's been a while since i updated this but...i've been quite busy with exams and all...i hope you like it. Much thanks to my betas, rocks-my-socks and jade...**


End file.
